Wartime Clarity
by Vanto
Summary: Their small history caught in a much bigger one. Before they struggled with their peacetime confusion, how did Corrin and Beruka go through the great continental war of Dreiz ? Sometimes, the journey matter more than the destination. (Conquest Rewrite).
1. Of remembrances and swords

Beruka wasn't quite sure on how she was going to do this.

As a parent, it was important for her to write down her story. Her child was still a baby, with limited concerns, but one day, she would grow curious about the kind of lives that her parents led, and the events that led to her very creation. And she couldn't be lied to, for the child was doubtlessly going to earn quite the scorn from Hoshido simply because of the acts of her parents.

The assassin couldn't lie to her. It was irresponsible, simply put. Her daughter would probably prefer a painful truth over a sweet lie, especially since the former would happen sooner or later. As a mother, she needed to prepare Kana for the world, and she'd need to tell her the full truth.

And first and foremost, she needed to know about the war. Their small history, caught up within the bigger one. How her parents met, what they did, good and bad alike, what they had to do too, to ensure that she'd eventually grow up in a peaceful world… It'd be a diary of her life.

Kana would only lay her eyes upon the journal when she'd be of age to understand the acts that her parents inflicted upon the world, giving Beruka plenty of times to complete it, but perhaps some of Selena's attitude eventually affected her, because the former malig knight felt like doing this in on go. To go back upon so many painful memories, even amongst the sweet ones, was certainly daring.

But alas, to enjoy her future, perhaps she needed to dwell back upon the past.

…

The knives shouldn't go on the forearms. Too easy for an enemy to attempt a desperate grab of a sort, and making it hard for an enemy to pull out mean that it'd also be hard for her to do so, nullifying the advantage of a weapon that could easily be drawn.

Beruka eyed the knives that she already had at her feet, and opted to just put the small scabbards on her hips, hidden away by the larger (but cosmetic) "claws" of a sort. If she were to lose her axe, she'd be able to still have access to weapons to fight, though the situation would be dire if the assassin was ever forced to let go of her axe or found herself unable to loot a weapon off a body.

And the situation that she was preparing for was the opposite of dire : a small bunch of wounded Hoshidans, from one of the major offensives, had managed to flee into the woods of a nearby town. The objective was to find and kill the soldiers before they could take hostages, raid the town or successfully regroup with others, which would make them a threat again.

"Hurgh, remind me why we're… why we're doing that?"

Selena stood against the wall of the dusty room that the two retainers were occupying. A miserable little place in a miserable little town, turned into a sudden armory ever since the assassin decided to check her weapons before the little massacre.

In the small purple bed laid axes of various size, but also throwing knives, more regular knives, a small sword, and capsules of a sort, housing poisons with enough potency to fell a Faceless ten times over. As Beruka moved to grab one of the capsules, Selena started to worry a little, tapping her foot against the ground.

"B-be careful with those!"

"They're liquids, Selena. I wouldn't carry poison gas on my person." She said. "Not when a strong enough shock could break the container."

"I know but… poison's always just so… a-anyway. Why are we doing this?"

"Killing the cornered Hoshidans?"

"Yeah. It's just a thing that you'd except the Rat Catchers to do, right? A-and beside, we could probably just capture them?"

"Why."

"Well, they must know important things to tell us, right?"

"The Hoshidans will fight to their last breath. To let them live is foolish." She commented, ranging her weapons and staring at Selena.

"Yeah but… well in general, we're retainers, right? Shouldn't we be…"

Selena made a few gestures, as if swinging a sword. Beruka stared at her plainly, only bothering to blink once.

"Don't just do these stares now! I hate those! They're so… "I do not have an answer, so I'm just going to stare!"" Said the fiery redhead, putting on a deeper voice.

"I have the answer. I'm merely surprised that you don't. We are moving closer to the frontlines by hunting the Hoshidan down. We'll be sent to the next front after we are done, and I suspect that Lady Camilla is actually receiving the news on which front we'll join."

Selena prepared to say something, opening her mouth and raising her finger, but Beruka quietly continued.

"I figured this out myself."

That, and some sneaking, but Beruka wasn't nearly stupid enough to admit it nearly out-loud, when the walls were so thin that the other residents of the house, a terrified old couple, could probably hear her whispers.

"W-well, I did the same as well! I was… prodding you, so you'd spill the beans and I'd know just how well informed you are."

Beruka stared.

"S-stop with those, I…"

Before Selena could finish, the door swung open, with nearly enough force to just shatter it, to the confusion of Camilla. Both women turned around to face her, and noticed that the warrior princess was wearing a different suit of armor, more similar to Beruka's own suit of armor. If the princess bothered to put on an heavier suit, then perhaps…

"Girls, we'll be moving to Port Dia! Grab some towels, maybe some glasses to protect your eyes from the sun… oh, and some weapons, perhaps, to off the pesky Hoshidans at our gate."

"Geez, for a peace-loving nation, they sure were ready for a fight! They're swarming Nohr!"

This was evidently going to be a major conflict, going by Camilla's choice of attire. But that was fine : Beruka had expected such a massive conflict in advance, aware that they were probably going to be sent to a major fight sooner or later. Selena was a bit less prepared though, but the professional Beruka prepared in advance for the possibility that her fellow retainer would make such a mistake.

Advancing forward, Beruka pulled out her smaller sword and some knives, handing them over to Selena. To the credit of the mysterious youth, she quickly understood what Beruka meant to do and acquired the weapon, tying the small sword's sheath to her belt and awkwardly trying to do the same for her knives.

"Teamwork." Said Camilla, holding up her two thumbs. "Anyway. We should move to quickly arrive in Port Dia, the Hoshidans are apparently close by, and since it took some time for the message to arrive…"

"I'll fly."

"Excellent! Then so will I!"

"W-wait, what about me? I can't just get there on foot, right?"

"Oh dear." Said Camilla. "Hm, grab an horse. The locals won't mind, and wouldn't say "no" to a royal retainer." She kept going. "Especially one with such a fearsome scowl!"

"W-well, they better not, because I can't run all the way to that port!"

…

As it turned out, the locals were more than willing to bestow a horse upon Selena. There wasn't too much distance between the tiny village they were occupying and Port Dia too, so at worst, they could finish the ride on Beruka's wyvern.

The two women were crossing the Nohrian countryside on their respective mounts. Apparently, the Hoshidans were going to be handled by mere grunts, allowing the three women to depart without any regrets.

"See? Grunts could've handled the job just fine !"

"These grunts could've been used elsewhere. The three of us would've taken down the Hoshidans soon enough."

"Yeah… well, you're right about that part. We're going to show that sometimes, to take down an army of Hosidians, you just need three pissed off ladies… and Lord Corrin's army."

"Hm. Yes, Lord Corrin is in Port Dia."

Camilla often talked about him. A naïve yet endearing prince of draconic features… and apparently of Hoshidan blood, though he made the choice to go back to Nohr instead of fighting those who raised him. He was somewhat polarizing in Nohr, though his recent deeds slowly shifted the opinion in his favor.

"Ohhhhh, so that's why we got relocated ! Lady Camilla wants to go assist Corrin and dragged us along !"

"This isn't surprising. Lady Camilla has always been… interested in Lord Corrin."

"Yuck ! She's his adoptive sister !"

"… Family issues aside, she has always expressed admiration for him. If she seeks to help him, then I shall do so immediately."

"Right… oh, do you think we could play a prank on him?"

Beruka attempted to stare flatly at Selena.

"I mean… just trip him up after the fight and pretend like we know each other somehow? And act offended when he doesn't recognize us?"

"That seems like a waste of time. Once the fighting is over, we'll introduce ourselves. You may perhaps attempt to… prank him, but I shall not participate in such a futile endeavor."

Selena sighed.

…

One could see the fighting from away, going by the plumes of smokes that were pouring out from the town. Strangely enough, Selena accelerated slightly when she saw the flames and destruction, with the duo soon approaching a group of panicked, fleeing civilians.

Beruka didn't intend to stop, but Selena did, skillfully stopping the horse's course and arriving near the civilians, doing an acrobatic little jump to descend off the beast.

"Take care of it for me."

A random Nohrian managed to get a hold of the beast's lead, and stared confusedly as the two young women dashed past. Then, he fell over when Camilla's larger wyvern soared ahead.

Up ahead, several Nohrian soldiers were fleeing the premises or attempting to lead the civilians to safety, though they seemed a bit confused when they saw the arrival of the amazon trio of a sort, though joy and pride soon took over when they saw Camilla's huge wyvern, prompting the soldiers to cheer. The assassin kept her eyes on her prize though, and so did Selena, with both of them bursting into the port at about the same time through the main street.

The port was, indeed, being all but sacked by the Hoshidan forces, though the Nohrians were desperately attempting to fight back. On her left, there was a bridge, currently being guarded by a woman in pink armor and a man in flashy attire, attempting to hold the bridge against archers. While such a feat seemed hardly possible for the two soldiers, they still held on, with the woman using a large pink shield to repel the projectiles away and the man occasionally tossing axes at his enemies.

On the right side, enthusiastic yelling could be heard as a man clad in a ridiculous yellow attire attempted to bombard the enemy troops thanks to a magical cannon, supporting the efforts of a little girl with a tome and a shifty-looking outlaw with a bow. For her small size, the magician boasted great power, using large magical explosions to batter away at the troops.

On the main side, two knights were running around, slicing at the approaching Hoshidans and boasting enough power and defense to defeat them in one hit. Sometimes, one blow did somehow manage to cross through their defenses, but princess Elise and a blue-haired woman were supporting him. Elise only healed them, but the woman seemed to sing whenever one of the knights started to tire, renewing their strength.

A maid, of all people, was also in the fight, using a ballista to shoot down the swarming Hoshidan units, with more and more pouring out of their vessels, and already, a few cracks were present amongst the defense of the Nohrian army, with a few Hoshidans emerging out of the water and attempting to crawl behind the enemy lines, perhaps hoping to catch a few civilians off guard.

Luckily, that's what they were here for.

Before they could process what was happening, Beruka dawned upon them, using one axe to demolish one of the soldiers and crushing another with her wyvern, with the large animal sliding on towards one of the two knights, allowing Beruka to swiftly off the ninja that was attempting to sneak up on the young man with her trusty axe.

The knight turned around and Beruka laid her eyes upon his face for the first time.

…

Beruka briefly considered telling Kana that she and her future husband stopped and stared at one another for a solid minute, with the chaos and hail of arrows and death frozen in time for a brief moment, before introducing themselves.

It was natural of parents, after all, to perhaps embellish facts. Perhaps Kana would see it as sweet, in a way.

But alas, it was the truth, and thus, her encounter with her father was definitely less elegant.

…

Beruka stopped her wyvern as it reached Corrin, stopping short of his own mount and causing him to turn around in surprise. A savage attempted to use the distraction to land a blow, but Selena quickly reached the Hoshidan, felling him with a quick blow from her sword.

"Lord Corrin ! Are these ridiculous Hoshidans giving you a hard time? You're so hopeless, heh heh. Lucky for you, we're here to bail you out."

"W-who are you two?!"

"Wow, really, just wow. I can't believe you've forgotten about me. You monster! Beruka! Say something, dammit!"

"Irrelevant. Focus on the fight at once."

"Well agreed!"

A thunder ball flew out ahead, striking a Sky Knight and sending her into the ground. Beruka, having figured out that it was Camilla, stood her ground, weapon in hand.

"Camilla? Who…" Said Corrin. He was… soft-looking and a bit taller than average, with short blue hair, red eyes, and soft facial features, with a small beauty mark near his lip, clad in the uniform of the average cavalier, though part of it seemed custom-made, with a white and black design. He held an unusual sword, of some bizarre design, but Beruka wasn't interested in analyzing the full details yet.

"Tsk tsk ! Just fight for now! Everything will be figured out later!"

"A-alright…"

Selena grumbled, and held her sword, looking over at the golden mage. Beruka, meanwhile, quietly took flight, weapon in hand, observing the outpouring army below fearlessly.

"Get ready, girls!" Warned Camilla. "I'd hate to lose one of you before I introduce you to Corrin!"

….

**A/N : **Surprise fic! Haha, sorry. I just realized that I like writing Beruka.

I won't drop the Hoshido one for sure though, but I may post one chapter a week for each, depending on my schedule. I thought it'd be a fun challenge, writing two fics at once, with one being that much lighter than the other haha!

Also, while it look like OG Conquest so far, there will be changes, and there will be chapters and flashbacks from Corrin's POV as well. I hope that you'll appreciate the changes that I'll bring to the story!

Critics and reviews are welcome with open arms! Enjoy this prequel to peacetime confusion!


	2. The Battle Of Port Dia

Beruka swung her axe upwards, easily slicing through Pegasus, spear and rider in one swoop. Blood and debris flew forth in the air as the Hoshidian woman briefly bellowed in agony, being hit with enough force to lift her off her mount briefly, though gravity prevailed eventually and sent both rider and winged horse down into the growing pile of bodies on the floor.

Her blood was still on the axe as Beruka took another life using it, striking down the last of the sky knights in a way that split her in half, with her confused horse flying away in fright. This ended Hoshido's attempt at circumventing the defense, and gave the defenders who were manning the machines the opportunity to turn the firepower of the ballista or magic-gun towards the ground-bound opposition.

The assassin, meanwhile, used her superior position to quietly analyze the battle area, noticing that desperate Oni Savages were attempting to push Effie and Arthur off the bridge, with about a dozen men attempting to toss the knight off it. To her credit, the pink knight was fighting valiantly, and was actually holding her ground against such a mighty amount of power, but alas, she was getting overwhelmed, and an exhausted Arthur could only watch, having been shot in the shoulder by an arrow.

Beruka swooped down near the end of the crowd of Onis, blindsiding them and allowing her wyvern to dive through them, tossing quite a lot of them out of the way. Her perfectly-timed axe swing took even more lives, and removed quite the number of enemies, allowing Effie to take the advantage. She swung her fist with enough strength to instantly knock out one of the Onis, then grabbed another's arm as he attempted to punch her back in answer, before spinning.

Few sights could startle the assassin, but Effie's major feat of strength perhaps gave her some measure of pause for a brief instant. Lady Elise's retainer continued to use her improvised human flail until she eventually ran out of enemies. Seeing no further usage for the soldier, she spun around and hurled the invader away, managing to throw him at the feet of a nearby Nohrian soldier, who promptly finished the job with a quick sword swing.

Effie turned around to thank Beruka, but horror soon appeared on her face as a projectile flew towards the blue-haired woman's back. Fortunately, she knew better than to drop her attention to gawk during a conflict, and casually raised her the back of axe (still without turning around) at the spot where the shuriken would've hit her, deflecting it. When she turned around, it was with a dagger in hand, though it soon found its way in a Hoshidian ninja's skull.

"Whoah… you're impressive, lady." Said Effie.

"Irrelevant. Keep defending."

Beruka took her, and resumed her contemplation of the battlefield

Hoshido was not succeeding at getting in Port Dia, and while the Nohrians were obviously getting worn down, with only the amazon trio still operating at top capacity, it was obvious that the line would be held. The rogue draconic prince was constantly going from one enemy to the other, using his bizarre sword to slay his foes, leaping in the ways of attacks meant for the songstress or princess Elise and doing an impressive job at directing his mount on the battlefield, in spite of the chaos going everywhere around them.

Selena was on the right side, casually dodging blades, clubs and projectiles with utter ease and easily downing her enemies in one hit, swinging her short sword with her left hand and a "borrowed" katana from the other. Her performance was such that Niles and Nyx's assistance was unnecessary, to the thief's relief : his quiver was empty, and he had blood running over his hands, meaning that he probably couldn't do much anyway. The child, however, was still doing fine, using her magic to assist the mercenary.

Beruka saw a ship go down in flames, with burning invaders leaping to the water as their mighty vessel exploded everywhere, and the mighty Camilla emerged out of the wreck just in time, Thunder Tome and Axe in hand. The princess briefly brushed her hair with her tome and then dove into a ninja who was threatening to sneak behind the defending forces, crushing him with the might of her wyvern.

The princess's feat of destruction over the vessel seemed to rattle the Hoshidians badly, going by the way the attack died down, with the enemies finding themselves hesitating in front of the Nohrian wall in front of them. This caused a notable lull on the battlefield, one that Corrin was quick to exploit.

"SOLDIERS OF HOSHIDO!" He began.

Corrin was clearly one of the people who suffered the most from the massive attack, but yet he stood triumphant on his horse. His armor was outright gone on his right shoulder and had several holes everywhere else, with blood coming out of some of them. He was also wounded in the head, going by the fact that blood ran down his face on two different spots, but he was remarkably coherent.

"Leave at once! You will not have this town, but you may yet esca-"

A sound echoed forth, akin to a thunderclap, and a blue arrow struck Corrin with enough force to hurl him off his force and shatter more of his armor, to the shock of his troops. Another arrow managed to destroy the ballista manned by Felicia, sending her flying. A third drew forth, demolishing part of the roof of a nearby house, outright pulverizing the bricks on it.

Beruka thought that the prince died, but interestingly enough, he was back on his feet soon enough, though he was in a noticeably worse shape than before. Still, the fact that he survived such an impact spoke volume of his durability, even if it'd take only another shot to end him.

"NO NO NO NO NO! YOU'RE NOT WINNING THIS! NEVER!"

The Hoshidian prince.

A white-haired youth with the immense power of one of Hoshido's legendary weapons at hands, little was known about him, since it was hard for spies to gather informations until recently. Going by the word of his imprisoned countrymen, he was _aggressive_, and they seemed to speak the truth : he was attacking with more fervor than the rest of his army, leaping in the air and creating another arrow to try and finish off the prince.

Luckily enough, Odin was surprisingly quick to react, hitting the prince with a shot from the cannon and dispelling the projectile. Since the power of the dragon was bestowed upon him, such impact apparently only stunned the prince, but after dispelling the arcane flames, he soon found himself faced with a silver axe, wielded by a most displeased Camilla. The prince's reflexes allowed him to raise his unbreakable bow in time, countering the attack, but alas, its strength was enough to send him skidding backward, with enough speed to leave some marks on the ground.

The prince's intervention was definitely most surprising, and one that could turn the tide for the army, but alas, in his haste, Takumi forgot the reason why he was kept in the backline, for all his mighty power, and Beruka took it upon herself to remind him of it, launching her wyvern forward and raising her axe to attack the distracted prince as he was attempting to recover from Camilla's assault.

The prince would fall, and the Hoshidian morale and overall power would take a hit with the loss of both Takumi and his weapons. Beruka was not one to get prideful, but she still secretly enjoyed the idea of becoming a slayer of royals, swinging down her axe at the weakened prince's neck with all the force she could muster… only for it to encounter steel of a sort, its blade clashing against a Naginata wielded by a tall woman with purple hair.

The woman bore some damage, and seemed weaker than Beruka, since she had to use her two hands to counter a mere one-handed strike from the assassin, but alas, she saved her liege, though the feat had her on her knees, vainly attempting to hold out against the assassin's strength.

"You're… not… harming him… Nohrian scum…"

Takumi turned around, ready to shoot, but Selena leapt forward already, having easily leapt from one side of the dock to another. However, like Beruka, she was intercepted. Her foe, a brown-haired man with a muscular build, was certainly struggling to hold her back though, grunting and gritting his teeth whereas Selena only looked annoyed, contemplating the Hoshidian with irritation.

Takumi turned around again but once more, he was attacked. And this time, no help came to intercept the Thunder spell that Camilla used, hitting the prince and hurling him backward into a crowd of his own soldiers, causing them to collapse. His panicked retainers, meanwhile, lost their struggle, finding themselves pushed back by the assassin and the mercenary.

"No! This… this can't be!" Yelled the prince, shakily getting up. "You can't…"

"Takumi, it's over." Declared Corrin. Upon closer look, he was in a worse state than she thought, needing Silas and Felicia to support him, though already, Elise was patching him up. "Pick up your wounded, turn around and…"

"Turn around?! So that you may better stab us in the back? No! I'll fight to the end!"

"Corrin." Said Camilla, edging closer to him. "He's the prince. We can't really just have him leave when he's weakened, sweetheart."

Corrin hesitated, perhaps judging the risks. The Hoshidians were battered, but so were the Nohrians, though Camilla, Beruka and Selena had it in them to probably take them out. Takumi came to a similar conclusion apparently, opting to begin to back off, with the army retreating into their ships.

"We're letting you live." Began the prince. "I want to show you that Nohr can be merciful. C-"

"Merciful? After what you've done?! How could you use that word? After all the lives that you took, after killing your mother, you dare to talk about mercy?! This… this won't stand! Just you wait! Ryoma's seen the rainbow sage, and my own power is increasing! I'll kill you ! You, and that vile army that you're cowering behind as well !"

"…"

Camilla attacked with Thunder once more, hitting the ground in front of Takumi's, and the prince and his army fled the scene, climbing on their damaged ships and leaving. The Nohrians watched the mighty vessels float towards the horizon, though eventually, Camilla chose to turn towards Corrin.

"Darling, I'm quite fond of you but you chose the wrong person to have mercy upon. His ships are too damage to really return to Hoshido, too, he might just try to head for Notre Sagesse to reunite with the other soldiers."

"Our own ship should catch up with him in that case." Said Corrin. "And if it happens, well…"

"You're most correct, milord!"

The soldiers turned around, and noticed that the populace of the port was present, heading back towards the dock now that the eastern soldiers were gone. An old man, presumably the leader, led them. He was short, with a tiny beard and two massive scars running down his face.

"Our ships will get you to Notre Sagesse within one day and night! Those Hoshidian scums would need four whole days for that!"

"Thank you kindly sir!" Said Corrin. "Let us help you with the repair. The docks have been quite damaged, after all."

Beruka briefly observed the scenery : While the houses have been evacuated, most were damaged, and the pavement was ruined. Burning wrecks and bodies were everywhere, and the water below was almost crimson. Camilla smiled, but everyone in the army knew that repairs would take far too long.

"No, aren't you on a schedule? You've done more than enough to help us! What a fight that was! Haven't seen something like that since we stormed into Qlipoth!"

Corrin nodded, smiling a little.

….

The people of Port Dia quickly accessed a large stone building, containing a large wooden boat, of mightier size than the Hoshidian vessels that were deployed. While it was deployed, Corrin's army recovered, with the wounded combatants receiving healing from Felicia or Elise and buying some weapons.

"I'm so heartbroken! You don't remember me! All those years protecting you dutifully and I earn a "who are you?". Hurgh!"

"I'm sorry, errr, I've got a pretty bad memory but…"

"Well, it's about to get worse! I'm going to whack you in the head for that! Beruka, to battle!"

"No."

Corrin, Selena and Beruka were gathered at the docks, with the former having decided to introduce himself to the latter. Selena was quick to attempt to resume her joke, whereas Beruka was contemplating the ship, wondering exactly how her wyvern was going to fit in there.

Corrin tilted his head slightly to stare at her, and she stared back, causing him to attempt to wave at her, with a cheeky grin. Then, Selena got in the way once more, to deliver a lecture.

"Hey! Don't you dare try to escape me!"

"Now now."

Camilla approached the trio, causing Beruka to turn around. The princess was holding a tiny letter of a sort, but quickly chose to put it away.

"You seem to be having fun! Corrin, meet Selena! She's a bit on the grumpy side of things, but she care."

Selena looked away in disdain, even folding her arms.

"Oh, and she never went to the fortress because she was recently hired." Said Camilla. "You're a devious little prankster, Selena, daring to put fort such a joke on my poor Corrin while he was in the middle of a fight…"

The princess tapped the top of Selena's head with her fist, to Corrin's confusion, and then turned to point at Beruka, who chose to step forward just now.

"And this is Beruka! She's quite the talented lady, and don't be intimidated by her poker face!"

"Is she… shy?" Asked Corrin.

"No." Said Beruka. "It is an honor to encounter you, Lord Corrin, may you guide us to victory."

Nothing but a bit of deference, though Camilla seemed to appreciate, tapping her retainer on the back before heading towards the boat, casually stepping over a hole in the ground.

"Now, let's be on our way! We don't have that much time after all!"

"Right!" Said Selena, following the princess. Corrin and Beruka also followed suit, with the assassin quietly leading her wyvern.

…

Beruka, like most of the members of the army, never really had the opportunity to partake in a sea trip thus far. Unlike most of them, though, she had no interest in observing the wonders of a clear sky, exiling herself to a room within the vessel.

The ship was quite large, sturdy, and designed to house a full-blown army, making it easy for the ragtag group to fit in. If the Hoshidians were to be found on the way to Notre Sagesse, then the ship could likely easily plow through the two ships and cut them in half, because of the sheer size difference. She easily found room for her wyvern, and commandeered a room for herself immediately.

As of right now, she was doing a headstand on one hand, using her wonderful balancing skills and surprising level of strength to keep her complicated position going. She has been at it for about five minutes, though she took regular breaks between her sessions. A body does need to rest, after all, and simply doing strenuous tasks one after another led to little gains.

Eventually, though, Beruka put her second hand on the floor, briefly spun around and quickly got back on her feet, staring at the door after briefly wiping her sweat off her head, putting on her headband.

"You can enter."

She was excepting Corrin, to be honest, or even someone like Selena, but the one to step into the room was actually Niles, a dark-skinned Nohrian with an eyepatch. He was the very opposite of Odin, Leo's other retainer : Whereas Odin was (in Beruka's view) an annoying loon, Niles was a thief with a sharp, cynical tongue and a eerie attitude.

"Finally. I was getting bored of peeking."

"State your business immediately, Niles."

"No need to get so hostile." He said, quietly raising his two hands, as if to show that he wasn't armed. "I'm simply quietly watching over my crew-mates."

"I do not need your protection. You may leave immediately."

"Oh, darling, I will." He said. "But first, you need to go see Lady Camilla, she desires to speak with you, but she doesn't want to stroll through this great ship, so I was given the task of fetching you."

"What does Lady Camilla need out of me?"

"Ask her." He replied. "Maybe she want you to put Arthur out of his misery, huh? The poor man… who would've thought that he'd was easily sea-sick."

Niles closed his one eye and chuckled, stepping backward and allowing Beruka to exit her room.

"I will now see Lady Camilla. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Declared Niles. "Happy to help a fellow member of our little ragtag group of… interesting people."

Beruka stopped and briefly considered her options.

"I request that you do not include me as a part of your clique, Niles."

"Such hostility." He answered, without missing a beat. "This is quite against Lord Corrin's demand that we grow closer, you know?"

No response.

"Beside, you're on this ship like the rest of us." He said. "But you do you, my friend. Good luck at competing with Selena at being the group's grumpy loner."

"You've delayed me enough. Farewell."

…

Beruka frowned a little as she exited the quarters, having been a bit more rattled by Niles than she'd like to admit. She admittedly knew of him a little, since the thief sometimes tracked her, either out of curiosity or because Lord Leo was suspicious of the assassin at times. While he was certainly quite competent, and would doubtlessly be able to easily stick to a lesser assassin like a shadow, Beruka always managed to elude him.

She never appreciated his presence though.

On the main desk, Elise was with Arthur, patting him in the back in an attempt to comfort him apparently. The way he leaned over the railing hinted that he was perhaps still suffering from sea-sickness, though Effie was holding him to prevent an unfortunate wave from kicking him out of the boat and unto the sea. A wise precaution : The man was probably going to land centimeters away from some kind of undiscovered super-species of shark at this point.

Some sailors and soldiers were busy manning the ship, nodding in respect to Beruka whenever she passed. The suspiciously large amount of sailors near the captain's quarters indicated to Beruka that this is likely where Camilla was residing, with the princess unknowingly confirming her soldier's suspicion by opening the door with enough strength to actually knock out the man standing in front of it.

"Beruka! Come quickly now!"

The assassin rushed forth, casually leaping over the unconscious man and entering the room, allowing the purple-haired princess to close the door.

The Captain's Quarters were relatively modest for one such as Camilla, though Beruka suspected that the woman just didn't feel like customizing the room since she wasn't going to occupy it for too long. Still, a bunch of bloody Hoshidian swords and helmets were stashed along the desk, collected from Port Dia. She wondered if they were going to need to transport them or if the princess intended to dump them on the feet of the next Hoshidians that they'd come across, to make her point.

"Beruka! I don't have much time, my dear!"

"I shall fulfill my duty in even less time." Answered Beruka, confidently.

"Is that so? Well, I do approve! You'll need to… make friends!"

Beruka stared, and so did Camilla, leaning forward and preparing to open a letter.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, this is will be quite the trip, and I can't have you just sulk in your little cabin! You're going to make friends!"

"I fail to see a gain out of this."

"Well, the "gain" here is that you will get to fight alongside others better! Teamwork is key after all! And yes, I understand why you'd be confused but… well, the battle of Port Dia is going to look like a light _skirmish_ in the face of what's awaiting! So, grab a friend, chat with them, and get a buddy to watch your back!"

"Has Selena…"

"Oh, she's hanging out with that loud mage!"

"… I know none of the gathered combatants."

"Well, you could ask Corrin, my dear! He knows everyone on board! Go ask him if there's someone who'd be a good fit for you! On that subject, he could be your battle-buddy. He's quite the social butterfly, believe me!"

"… I shall exit this room and become a "battle-buddy" with Lord Corrin."

"Or ask if there's someone who could fulfill that purpose. Now, apologies, but there's…"

"With all due respect, this…"

"It's an order." Said Camilla. Her voice lost its sweet undertones, growing quite a bit harsher, and an uncharacteristic frown appeared on her face as she began reading the letter. "Leave."

It was unusual for her to be so serious, but alas, Beruka knew better than to even say a word in the princess's presence, and bowed to her before departing quickly. If something in the letter troubled one such as her, then bad news were on the horizon.

…

Beruka found Corrin pretty easily : He was on the quarterdeck, accompanied by the blue-haired woman from earlier and the grey-haired knight. Both men were discussing about the battle at Port Dia, whereas the woman was sitting down, reading down a book of a sort.

She didn't quite look Nohrian, and the assassin saw a Hoshidian weapon in her hands back during the conflict. Was she like Nyx? A woman who was just recruited somewhere in the Nohrian countryside during a previous fight?

"-But still, I hope that we won't be encountering Takumi anytime soon. He trounced me."

"We could meet him at Notre Sagesse." Said Silas, folding his arms. He then looked to the side, and finally noticed Beruka, causing him to jump in surprise. Corrin also jumped in fright, but that woman simply quietly stared at Beruka, though she could tell that the other blue-haired individual was wary, going by her slight shift in body language.

"Whoah You surprised me!"

"That was not my intention." Said Beruka. "May I sit down to converse with you?"

The dragon prince observed her a little and nodded, scratching the back of his head. He seemed nervous around her for some reason, but she blamed it on the fact that she did nearly ram into him with a wyvern. Silas himself seemed a little more nervous, though he was attempting to hide it.

"So, errr, Beruka! Nice of you to join us!"

"Yes. I am looking for information."

"W-well, how could I help ?" Said Corrin.

"I am looking for… a battle buddy."

They glanced at her, in a synchronized manner, and then the woman got up, taking her book and glancing down at Corrin.

"I am going to consult Nyx, Corrin. See you soon."

Beruka didn't even bother to look at her as she left, her eyes focused on Corrin's. After a little while, he looked away, perhaps a little intimidated. Since this was harming her socializing endeavors, Beruka chose to look away a little.

"Erm… I'm going to train, Corrin, Beruka. See you two!"

Silas left, and only royal and assassin were left now.

"So, you need a friend, right?"

"Hrm… someone to fight with me, and watch my back, even if it is unlikely that we will be able to do so easily. A unit on the ground may not be able to easily keep up with my wyvern, after all."

"That's true, but there are a few people who could fit… so, what do you do outside of battle?"

"… Lady Camilla should have told you that. I am an assassin."

"A… oh, that's-what?!" Yelled Corrin. "You…"

"I take contracts, yes. I do follow my liege faithfully, however, and may not take contracts for now. Breaking away from the army to perform them would be awkward after all."

As an assassin, blatantly informing him of her job was not a smart move. But alas, "friendship" required friends to be truthful between one another, and she thought that Camilla would've told him.

"W-why?" He asked. "Why would you… Erm…"

He scratched his chin and moved around, but Beruka stood still, quietly staring.

"Maybe… Niles?"

"No."

"Alright, hm… maybe Nyx? She's not very social herself though… hm…"

"… This army is lacking in people who could become my "friends", am I correct? This is expected. Perhaps I could still try my luck with Nyx but…"

"Wait." He said. "Maybe I could try to be your, hm, whatstheteoh-battle buddy?"

Beruka tilted her head to the left.

"I'm curious about why you chose that job, and I don't want you to be lonely in the army." He proposed.

"I did not chose this." Said Beruka. "But very well. I accept your proposal."

Corrin smiled and raised his thumbs, in approval. The assassin blinked slowly and copied him with far less enthusiasm.

…

Both Beruka and Corrin were attempting to hang out at the deck, or rather, Corrin was attempting to find a subject of discussion while the young woman was leaning over the railing, observing the sea below and paying little heed to the sun above. She even found it a little disagreeable, being this exposed to the sun.

"So, why… erm, not now… so, other than your job, what do you do ?"

"I clean and sharpen my weapons."

"W-well, it's sort of tied to your work, right? When you have no contracts and, say, Camilla is not giving out any order, what do you do? Let's say it's during peacetime."

"I wait for either."

"… Right. Hmmm, have you ever considered having an hobby?"

"No."

"Well… oh, how did you meet your wyvern "

"I bought it."

"I see, well, do you have a name for it?"

"No."

"That's… well, we all have our styles, but you know, if I were in your position, I'd try to name it."

"Why? The beast's purpose is to kill. It has no need for something as superficial as a name."

"Perhaps, but it kind of help to form a bond between an animal and a master, you know?"

"I have no need for such a bond, I did not buy the wyvern so that it could be cuddled. That is a the purpose of mere pets."

"Well, if you can form a bond with your wyvern, then maybe making bonds with people will be easier." Added Corrin. "I do get why you'd be suspicious though, but it's a first step."

"… I shall indulge in this. What name shall I bestow upon the wyvern?"

"Well, it depends. You can pick a funny name, or a fitting name, or something intimidating. I named my horse Jagen, as an example, because I just thought that it… did fit with being an horse."

Beruka observed Corrin, turning her eyes away from the ocean to stare at him. He fumbled a little in embarrassment, perhaps aware that she was finding his choice silly. For a prince, he was surprisingly soft, especially in contrast to his brothers and sister.

"… Then I shall name it Sirius."

"Oh, Sirius! Yeah, that's a nice name!" He said. "It's a great choice even!"

"… Now, what could we do?"

"Hmm, maybe we could try to… hang out with some of the others?"

Beruka briefly imagined herself casually "hanging out" with Elise, Effie or Arthur, who were the most social of the group, but immediately dismissed such a thought. It'd never happens.

"Hm… I do think I have an idea though. Maybe we could spar?"

"You'd spar with me?"

"Yep! It's not like you're going to stab me during a session." He said.

The Nohrian retainer hesitated briefly, but then agreed. Perhaps he'd see it as a harmless little session of a sort, but the assassin was seeing it as an occasion to really get to know how he fought. And Nohrian culture encouraged the use of sparring between friends, to push themselves to their limits and get to know each other better.

She could use it to see just how skilled h was and what she was going to need to do to get him to be an unstoppable force.

"Very well. We'll spar."

….

**N/A : **Long chapter heh? I'm inspired, what can I say! Do tell if you think that such chapters are too long though.

We can already see some changes, such as, for an example, Takumi being proactive during the Port Dia fight and a bit of "filler" with the boat trip. Notre Sagesse will be next though, but I need to really establish their relationship instead of breezing through the game, right?

Corrin's horse is a reference to the famous Paladin and the founder of a well-known archetype. His will to serve lords was so strong that he reincarnated into a horse… or something like that.

Camilla is just trying to grind her supports between chapters, don't worry about her.

Critics and reviews are very much appreciated as always! I hope that you enjoyed the chapter thoroughly, till next week for a brawl with Hinoka!

See ya.


	3. The journey to Notre Sagesse

One punch very nearly grazed her, and the other missed its mark by only a few millimeters, leaving a small mark on her cheek. However, the assassin was not one to be so easily bothered, especially by meager scratches: in a single instant, she grab upon the forearm that nearly hit her and pull forward, disturbing her foe's balance and making it easy for the young woman to quite simply punch, with seemingly nothing standing between her knuckles and his teeth.

Fortunately for the dragon prince's jaw, such contact never happened : Her knuckles stopped a few centimeters short of him. The young man gasped quietly in answer, observing both the assassin and her fists quickly, as if expecting Beruka to actually deck him.

Beruka actually pulled her fist away, slowly, and the two warriors quietly stood upright, observing each other. Corrin did eventually look down a little before raising his fists, only now realizing that the assassin still didn't quite lower her arms, as if preparing to attack him while he was distracted. This was fine, though, since it was part of a certain flaw of his that she was able to notice.

The wooden room they were standing on was apparently meant to house feasts or house vast riches, though as of right now, it was merely distressingly empty. The sailors did bother to put some hay on the ground, perhaps anticipating that the Nohrians would use the room to train (or, at least, encouraging them to do so here), but past the chairs that were scattered close to the walls, it was essentially emptiness, giving the fighters plenty of space to move around.

"So… how's my fighting?"

"You're skilled." Began Beruka.

From what she could gather, Corrin was quite the fighter, in spite of his limited experience at real combat. He was mighty with swords and spears (and axes, according to Camilla), knew how to lead soldiers to victory, was skilled at hand-to-hand combat and, past the awkwardness to a degree, possessed a certain charisma and was seemingly willing and able to interact with the people in the army, from his sisters, to his best friend, to a possibly-immortal cursed little girl, to an assassin.

However, he was… hesitant, and one to lower his guard, express surprise or show compassion at the worst moments. While such flaws couldn't be exploited by opponents who lacked the skill or strength to do so, his short "bout" with the Hoshidian prince demonstrated her point to a degree : by attempting to make a speech, he almost allowed the prince to attack him by surprise, seemingly not excepting his "brother" to burst in and attack him.

Takumi's arrows were swift, yes, and the prince's sudden decision to leap to the frontline was a surprise to everyone, but making a speech when the enemy was still not entirely defeated was a mistake.

More generally, her little bout, though short (she'd likely need another one) did confirm that Corrin needed to temper his emotions in battle. For what it's worth, being surprised or shocked mid-combat is a great way to end with a sword in the guts, and even one as mighty as Corrin needed to be wary of that. To progress, he would need to be even swifter in his movements, strike without fear, analyze the situation without allowing himself to be overwhelmed, and anticipate an enemy's reaction according to their personality or displayed fighting style.

Quite the list, yes, but Beruka knew that it was within the realm of his possibilities.

"But you are too… passionate. You let yourself get surprised and pay the price as a result."

"Really? Hm… yes, big brother did mention that at one point."

"I assume that you're talking about Lord Xander."

"Correct!" He declared, snapping his fingers and pointing. She observed his gesture blankly, and his smile slowly faded as he lowered his hands, before quickly attempting to look serious again. However, his obvious embarrassment made it quite hard for him to do so.

"Well, erm, he did say that I should temper my emotions and steel myself. I always get a bit too caught-up in a moment."

"Yes. Emotions are useless in the battlefield."

"Well, I wouldn't say useless but… well, I should just learn not to drop my guard when I'm fighting. Say, you could help me with that?"

"Yes, that is my goal. It would be ideal for you to keep this lesson in mind before we move on to Notre Sagesse. It isn't too hard : Always account for hidden foes, carefully assess the battlefield and never drop your guard. Ideally, you shouldn't even lower your guard as we talk or while you are traveling. Hoshidian assassins are skilled at their job after all, and are relentless."

He chuckled a little, and Beruka stared at him, blinking ever-so slowly.

"My advices are not destined for a comedic purpose."

"Sorry, it's just… I'm a little worried about having to keep my guard up all the times. It sounds pretty hard."

"You laugh when you get worried?"

"Yeah, it's a nervous chuckle of a sort. It's to try to calm myself but… I never really manage at that because actually it just kind of worry me further."

"How complicated. Now, get back on the topic."

"Well, I'll keep my vigilance up then. And perhaps we could rely on one another? Your wyvern means that you can fly, and you can warn me of whatever danger is trying to exploit my blind spots !"

"Hm. This is a good idea. Yes, I'll watch out for you, though unfortunately, I do not promise that I'll be able to keep my eyes on the battlefield all the time. I will need to fight as well."

"Of course!" He said. "And in exchange, I can try to take out archers for you."

She nodded, and before the duo could continue their conversation, Camilla nearly kicked her way into the room, opening the door with enough strength to startle Corrin, though Beruka simply turned her head around, gazing quietly.

"Oh oh, I can see that I'm interrupting something! Apologies for that, Beruka, my dearie Corrin!"

"It's okay, C-wait, p-please, don't call me that in front of someone else! It's… it's kinda embarrassing!"

"Aw, you reject that innocent little name that I gave you? How heartbreaking… I may not be in such a good mood for the dinner that is being held in the passenger quarters."

"W-wait! You… you can call me dearie Corrin if you like, but… please, erm, only when we're around the other siblings, right? W-well, only if you want!"

"I knew you'd come around!"

Beruka stared, thoroughly unimpressed. Camilla noticed this and turned towards her, predictably enough.

"And you'll come here with us, Beruka! We'd love to have you at our table."

"No. I will get some food and retreat to my room."

"This isn't fun, my _favorite_ retainer. It'll help you make more battle buddies too!"

"… Then, yes, I shall come." She said, already spotting some edge in Camilla's voice. The princess smiled, turned around, and left the room, with her retainer and "brother" following suit. Corrin waited for about ten seconds before turning towards the blue-haired woman, attempting to whisper to her.

"Isn't Camilla a bit more on edge, today?" He said.

"You noticed?" Answered Beruka, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah, I know her pretty well… If you feel bothered by it, you could tell me and I'll try to talk to her."

"I will not cower behind someone else, worry not."

…

The Nohrian army held their dinner away from the sailors, in a large room. The large table that was housing them was obviously meant to host a much wider crew, even with the nameless soldiers included. This gave them plenty of space at the very least.

Camilla sat at the end of the table, with Corrin and Elise at her side. Arthur, Effie, Felicia and Nyx were sitting next to Elise, though Nyx seemed to contemplate going further, glancing at her neighbors in irritation from time to time. Next to Corrin sat Azura, Silas, Odin, Selena, Beruka and, ultimately, Niles. Multiple little cooking pots were scattered across the table, containing as much food as they could spare.

Port Dia was never hit by the Qlipoth Blight as badly as the other cities, meaning that there was quite a bit of food to spare, to the surprise of some of the soldiers or retainers. Still, though, they didn't quite take big portions, with the exception of Azura (though the blue-haired woman, after a little pause, was quick to put the food back in) and Elise, who cheerfully took Azura's part. For the most part, the dinner was going in silence: with only the sound of chewing being heard. Eventually, though, Camilla decided to take the helm, wiping her mouth with a napkin and getting up, smacking her wooden pool against the table.

"Attention everyone, I'm going to make an announcement now!"

"Ha, she speaks! She who gathered all of us dare to reveal her designs! Communicate them to use with great haste!"

Selena blushed and smacked Odin in the back of the head, though admittedly she did so with less force than Beruka would've employed on the wizard. None of the Nohrians seemed to mind it, since physical corrections between friends weren't treated as "bad" in their culture. Corrin and Azura did look a little worried for the blond man though, and Felicia glanced at him, in surprise.

"S-stop talking like that, you moron!"

"Oh don't worry, Selena! I quite like Odin's attitude! It'll be useful for the coming trials!"

"Then speak of them, please."

"Of course, my dear!" Said Camilla to Nyx. "Well, first off, it appears that the Hoshidian fleet is not headed for Notre Sagesse, though I doubt that they are heading for Hoshido. We damaged them quite thoroughly after all, and we didn't cross them on the way here. I've tried to have some spare wyvern riders check for them, but alas, it seems that Prince Takumi will not be seen again for a while…"

Corrin sighed in relief.

"And that work in our favor! After all, two royals would've been quite the handful!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Princess Hinoka is leading the Hoshidian forces on Notre Sagesse." Said Camilla. "And apparently, so was the Crown Prince himself, Ryoma, before his departure days ago."

"Hinoka…" Mumbled Azura.

"Indeed, dear. She's a skilled sky knight, so I require that our archers ready their arrows in advance!"

Niles licked his lips, but the archers in the army nervously nodded, anxious at the idea of having to come to blow with a princess of Hoshido. After all, hitting the sky knights was quite complicated, especially one who trained hard like her.

"However, I will personally take her down by myself. You may only fire on her if you deem that it'd be too dangerous to let her fly."

"So, what was that about Ryoma?" Asked Effie. "He left? Has he returned to Hoshido, perhaps?"

"Oh-oh-oh, he joined the invasion force heading for Macarath instead. While we fended off the invasions there and there, Macarath, unfortunately, fell to his troops! I've learned so recently."

"Macarath has fallen? Hm…" Pondered Nyx. "Of all the places…"

"Is Macarath the… Nohrian Attic?" Said Corrin. "W-well, erm, it's its name, right?"

"Correct." Said Beruka, though she didn't say anything else.

"Huh, it's where we store a lot of stuff, right?"

"… Yes, child, this is where "a lot of stuff" is stored." Declared Nyx, looking at Elise. "And the Hoshidians will be smart to sack it. It is where most of the food is stored, along with the medicine too."

"I guess this is why they attacked Port Dia, too…" Said Niles. "Heh, can't fight a war on empty bellies, after all. If just a few cities go down, it'll be harder for Nohr to fight the war, and they might just win by attrition. So much for honorable warfare."

"So… do we turn around and go help?"

"Oh no dear. We have to do our task first. Right now, Nohr is sending quite the force to take Macarath back. If the fighting is still on-going by the time we get back, then we are to assist."

"If the fighting goes on for that long, I fail to see how we could be of assistance." Said Beruka.

"Have faith alas, Beruka!" Replied Arthur, and Beruka stared at him, as if surprised. It was unusual for her to be addressed in such a casual manner after all. "We've fended off the mighty Takumi and his army, and royals are amongst us! We form quite the league, if I must say!"

Elise and Effie clapped, and so did Camilla. Corrin, out of kindness, also clapped and Felicia bothered to do so as well. Some of the soldiers also attempted to clap (and a knight dared to say "woo woo !") but there was just enough silence to make the experience awkward, a fact that Niles was quick to exploit, promptly clapping slowly three times before turning towards Odin.

"Come on Odin, I thought that you were going to be the loudest of the bunch."

"I apologize, he of the silver tongue, whose words are sharp like his arrows, but alas, it appears that a wandering spirit has captured my emotions, and the key to defeat it… is to focus and engage in a mental battle, one that you unfortunately cannot assist with as a result, for it is more than a conflict of flesh and steel!"

"… He's a bit concerned with the ongoing events." Said Selena. And Camilla leapt on the occasion like a tiger.

"Ho-ho. You seem to know how our dear friend work better than most." Complimented the princess. "How did you meet?"

Beruka was expecting Selena and Odin to panic or fumble, but while Odin _visibly_ got more attentive, they both held well.

"We both met near Cheve, and I noticed his… extravagant attitude and skills. I also noticed that he was probably going to get himself killed with that attitude, so I decided to make sure that it wouldn't happen. I'm nice like that."

"That is nice of you!" Said Corrin. However, the prince shrunk in his seat when the other people on the table bothered to look at him, having somehow expected his remark to be merely one amongst many others.

"Oh no Lord Corrin, don't think you can shy away from forgetting me that easily!"

Beruka's eyes widened slightly.

"Forgetting?" Said Niles, though he stopped after realizing just what was happening, opting to smile. To his credit (and Selena's), he did back off upon realizing Corrin's seeming distress.

"I'm sorry, I'm… wellll, I haven't been out of the fortress for a while, so it's odd to be eating with so many people all of a sudden. Erm, sorry about that."

"Sorry." Said Selena. "But… with all due respect, isn't it dangerous to have you fight those people? War's not fun."

"Well, father said it so."

That was final enough for nearly everyone.

In Nohrian culture, the father has a very powerful presence, though matched by the mother. If the father asks something of his children, then they are expected to follow his orders to the rule, because of his authority and also because the parent would obviously never allow his children to be sent to their demise. Obviously enough for most of the people involved, King Garon was in the right.

Beruka didn't quite agree, even if she kept her doubts hidden, and she could see some unease on Odin and Selena's faces. Niles himself seemed to roll his eyes at the sky, though ultimately, they chose to drop the subject.

"Apparently, the Hoshidians retreated to the Sevenfold Sanctuary after taking the sage. The population didn't bother putting up a struggle, of course. A few days afterwards, Prince Ryoma left, and it seems that they are trying to pass his gift upon the princess as well."

"Why wouldn't they leave as well?"

"By occupying it, they can gather their forces upon its docks to launch another invasion on the mainland, sweetie, and the ports will definitely fall to such an assault. We need to kick the Hoshidians off the island immediately upon arriving, and leave behind some troops to capture Notre Sagesse to prevent further invasions."

"How many enemies will we need to defeat in the name of Justice?"

"Not much apparently. They're holed up in their little fortress up top, and since ninjas are amongst them, I fear that there might be traps in the way. The Sevenfold Sanctuary reside on top of a mountain, so we might be a biiitt tired by the time we get there, though I intend on buying horses to lessen that."

"So we should have a smooth arrival, right?"

"Correct, but you should still be careful. Notre Sagesse can have some nasty diseases, for one, and it's likely that ninjas will be hidden amongst the populace. And they won't hesitate to ambush poor isolated Nohrians, so stick together, will you?"

The group nodded, and dinner went on as usual.

…

Most of the Nohrians retreated to their quarters after supper, since they were going to arrive in Notre Sagesse soon enough and needed to be at their best in anticipation of the upcoming fight. Of all the gathered soldiers, Beruka was one of the few who did not allow Orfeus, Nohrian god of sleep, to take her into his kingdom, sharpening her weapons instead.

The Assassin had developed a special technique to sleep for a short amount of time but operate at peak capacity anyway, since her work often required her to stalk the dark. The assassin wasn't out at night merely because she wanted to clean her weapons, though. The assassin was on the look out for hidden ninjas amongst the sailors, quite aware that the warriors of the shadows were unlikely to have all died in that battle, and might have snuck into the ship.

She didn't quite suspect them to be amongst the sailors, since the average Hoshidian man was a bit different-looking from the usual Nohrian, but the woman still intended to be on the prowl tonight. She'd need only five hours of sleep, and the night was still fairly young after all. The woman, however, opted to only take some knives with her, hiding them beneath her clothing. An axe would only make her purpose too obvious, after all.

Heading out, Beruka opened the door leading to the hall and began to walk down the quarters, after carefully closing her door and locking it (aware as she was of the fantastic lockpicking skills of the shinobis).

No ninjas, but a Nohrian prince : It take Beruka only ten minutes to see Corrin, walking down the hall, holding up a plate with quite some food on it. He nearly drop it upon spotting her, but eventually keep a strong grip on it.

"H-hurgh! You surprised me!"

"… What are you doing with that food?" Asked Beruka, ignoring his surprise.

"It's a bit outlandish."

"There is nothing outlandish about eating. However, you should know better than to eat at night. We may not be able to afford that much food in the future, or we will need to share it with more people."

"I know, and…"

He sighed and looked earnestly at her.

"I'm going to feed it to an astral dragon, she's located in a tiny realm itself located in a tiny orb that I keep in my room."

Beruka stared at Corrin.

Corrin stared at Beruka.

Beruka stared at Corrin.

Corrin stared at Beruka.

"Good night." She said, walking off.

…

Notre Sagesse was founded by the former noble Martin Aurvoir, a close friend to the fifth queen of Nohr, Queen Aurema. In ancient times, Nohr and Hoshido were much closer than before, but both countries had a rift between them: The very-physical one, that separated the two countries, and a culture one that made it difficult for the inhabitants to really get to know one another.

Martin decided to try to fill that gap by creating a colony where both Hoshidian and Nohrians could live together in peace. He and a noble of the east, Tenju Issho, met and, after a few years, decided to head down to an island at the south of the country, to try and form a community. Some people chose to follow them, and Notre Sagesse was founded.

Culture clashes did ensue, and Notre Sagesse's prosperity was challenged several times, but the city did grow into a prosperous community, and both its founders passed away in peace. With time, some people even dared to form communities on the mainland.

The arrival of the Rainbow Sage within the island brought quite the reputation to the island too, and plenty of warriors, even now, travel to attempt to earn his mysterious powers, though the numbers of people who successfully passed his test could be counted on one hand, with some more fingers to spare.

However, Qlipoth's invasion destroyed much of the communities in Nohr, and the ones in Hoshido were slowly absorbed by its culture, eliminating the Nohrian elements and just making regular villages out of them instead. Subsequent hostilities made it impossible for another village to see the light of the day and, in this current age; Notre Sagesse remains the last relic of an era where the inhabitants of both countries had hope for a future together.

Is it largely ignored by Nohrians and Hoshidians today, though that was bound to change.

Standing on its docks, Beruka could indeed see that the city had a mix of Hoshidian and Nohrian architecture, combining the vibrant colors of Hoshido with the tall edges of Nohr. However, she didn't care much for such matters, turning her cold eyes towards the top of the mountain where the Sevenfold Sanctuary was located.

"Enjoying the architecture?" Asked Camilla, stepping down the ship on a gargantuan plank of wood, holding unto a leash to get her wyvern to follow her. "Sirius", as she called it, was close to Beruka as well, observing its surroundings with great curiosity.

"No. I am contemplating our next destination."

"Straight to the point, huh? Well, we're going to try and get everyone up and ready before leaving. We'll meet at the main place in… ah, ten minutes. Don't scare the locals too much, dear!"

Beruka turned towards the city, and the rest of the army, and chose to sigh.

"Very well."

…

**N/A : **Up next : Hinoka, and maybe the beginning of Chapter 12 as well!

I know that it kind of slow the pace a little, but I don't want to only make fight scenes, and I like to show the interaction between the army, though things will definitely get a bit funkier with the arrival of some people! A pretty important character is going to show up too, though I guess you know who I'm talking about.

How were the interactions? Critics and reviews are appreciated!

See you!


	4. The battle for the Rainbow Sage

Notre Sagesse was easily "conquered" by the Nohrian forces. It was a matter of walking into the building housing the leaders (easily recognizable by the fact that one half was Nohrian and another was closer to Hoshidian architecture) and, simply, declaring that the island was under the control of King Garon henceforth.

At least, that's how Camilla described it to Beruka : Both women were at a potion shop, the princess having quickly resolved the diplomatic matter to a point where she opted to go and check on her dearest soldiers before the little brawl, to see just how well they were doing… and to, perhaps, check if they weren't hounded by hidden ninjas. After all, Hoshido would be foolish not to let _some_ of them behind.

"We just walked into their home and told them that Notre Sagesse belonged to Nohr, now."

"Hrm. Was it that easy?"

"Oh my darling, there wouldn't be a Nohrian flag floating over the palace otherwise." Chided Camilla. "Perhaps you were too distracted by Corrin's deep red eyes to notice?"

Beruka folded her arms casually, aware that Camilla was going to lecture her about temporarily letting of her battle buddy to do her own thing. The princess was in a better mood than before, but the retainer knew just how seriously her lord could take trivial matters, and fully expected the purple-haired royal to tie her and Corrin with a rope to ensure that they would remain united no matter what.

A paltry measure, however. Beruka could easily free herself from any manner of binding.

"It was easier for me and Lord Corrin to split up and get supplies. By temporarily going our separate ways, we ensure that we will be able to obtain items quicker before the future battle."

Camilla leaned backward, trying to ignore the men that were attempting to stare at her through the glass of the store. She did eventually smirk and wink at them, and Beruka was quite sure that a few of those men just fainted.

"And beside, we did… hang out, as you described, yesterday."

"I saw that. You even sparred apparently! That's pretty excellent, my dear! But try not to bruise my dearie Corrin, hm?"

"I would only bruise him if he asked, fear not."

"Oh my! I was never quite aware of that side of him. That is very interesting!"

Beruka was probably supposed to react to that, but she kept a straight face. After a little while, Camilla glanced one eye open and her smile lowered a little, though it remained present.

"So, what do you think of him?"

"Shall I be honest?"

"As honest as you can."

"He's talented in warfare and seems to be a good individual, but he's naïve and easily distracted. If allowed to, I shall attempt to aid him by making him more prudent and perhaps more willing to do what is required."

"Hm… good, good! We'll be seeing that soon enough!"

Beruka's eyes diverted away from her lord a little, but she soon resumed the stare down. Camilla's eyes remained fixated on her from the looks of it, but the princess shifted every so slightly, awaiting her retainer's action.

An arm shot out, aiming to strike at the assassin's back, but the woman swiftly dodged and grabbed the offending limb by the wrist, turning around to glance at a surprised-looking individual. His choice of garbs (long sleeves, large coat, perfect for concealment) already somewhat gave him away as suspicious, but she noticed his attempt at struggling past the crowd, perhaps eager at the idea of killing a seemingly distracted enemy soldier.

Beruka learnt much on the strength of the human body, but she was also very much aware of its weaknesses. A quick, precise press of her thumb on a specific vein within his forearm brought the ninja to his knees in an instant, allowing the assassin to swiftly knock him out with a punch to the head. She didn't hold back much : if left on his own, the Hoshidian would not wake up, because of the damage done to his head.

Fortunately, it wasn't anything that their healing staves couldn't prevent. And since Lady Elise was nearby (and quite a few healers too), excessive force was seen as acceptable. Ninjas are known for their tricks, so she'd rather grab him while she can instead of trying to interrogate him in unfavorable conditions, surrounded by a hollering mass and at risk of another attack.

"Efficient." Complimented Camilla. The crowd scattered around them, but alas, no further shinobis emerged out of the darkness. Beruka suspected that some were hiding in the crowd though, but alas, she couldn't quite recognize and handpick potential targets amongst a fleeing crowd. She had her future interrogation target, and that was it, though the assassin was under the belief that there'd be little to gain out of such an unskilled shinobi.

"No. It is likely that more got away, and we made a scene."

"Well, well, with a crew as... special as ours, it was a matter of when we'd make a scene. Come, let us make a room for our little Hoshidian, all tuckered out!"

Beruka checked the ninja's pulse and, after confirming that he was neutralized, hoisted him over with one arm. One could be awed at the idea of a young girl pulling off such a casual feat, but truth to be told, there was a certain awkward size difference between the two, meaning that the assassin was eventually forced to drag him along, since she couldn't carry him over her shoulder easily.

"Would you like some help? You look like the world's cutest kidnapper, by the way."

"No. He might still be able to pull a trick. By carrying him myself, I am minimizing the damage towards you."

Camilla made an "awww" sound and quietly looked over at Beruka, expecting her to react or offer a comment about the kidnapper comment. Instead, the wyvern rider stood silent.

…

It took five minutes for the ninja to start "spilling his beans" (as a sailor put it), four for him to reveal real informations not meant to trap them, and about six minutes to ensure that he was properly immobilized, to Beruka's frustration.

"You think he's restrained?"

"… Nah, add another rope."

"On the chains? Well, you're the boss, boss."

The Hoshidian was besieged by several muscular sailors, put in charge of ensuring that he was properly restrained while the Nohrians discussed about the informations that were practically handed to them. Beruka was, ironically, the only one to be distracted, though she still kept her ears on the conversation.

Ninjas had this mystical reputation in Nohr, as invisible warriors, capable of blending in the smallest shadows and able to squeeze through gaps too tight for even pets. They possessed weapons so sharp they could pierce a general's armor, and these blades were laced with a poison so intense, it could melt a cow's skin off in seconds. Ninjas were also capable of closing large gaps in seconds, and knew everything about the human body, always taking their sweet time to deliver a slow death upon Nohrians.

Of course, most of it was false. Shurikens were dangerous weapons but couldn't break through even regular armor in one blow, and the poison within merely weakened, and was easily curable by a regular healing staff. Ninjas were also capable of sneaking around with great efficiency, yes, but with the right method and magic it was easy to smoke them out, as any "rat catcher" would attest.

However, Ninjas _were_ quite informed about where to strike to cause maximum pain for minimum lethality, and they did make a habit out of doing some gruesome killings on lonely Nohrian peasants.

Ninjas built their reputations off such kills. They couldn't strike Nohrian towns or nobility, so they sneaked out into the countryside and killed farmers and peasants. This further damaged Nohr's agriculture, if ever so slightly, intimidated other Nohrians and led to their current reputation as invisible boogeymen. This is why the Nohrians were currently taking all those precautions on restraining the shinobi, even if he was, by all means, quite untalented.

"Oh no, we've lost the advantage of surprise…"

"Lady Elise, I think they knew that we were coming from the start." Warned Effie.

"Well, well. I doubt that there was only one ninja." Said Camilla. "They have traps up there it seems, and will be ready for a fight more than ever."

"Luckily enough, the army should be able to move up to the sanctuary, we'll just need someone to disable traps."

"Well, Lord Corrin, allow me to step up to the job." Said Niles, smirking. "I'm quite competent at disabling traps."

"So am I." Said Beruka. "And my wyv… Sirius can easily access those traps."

"Sirius? Oh dear, you named your wyvern! Wonderful! But how will you recognize traps?"

"Hoshidian ninjas are skilled, but there is a pattern to them. I can identify them, though I trust that Niles will do the same."

"I've had to deal with them before. I know how they operate." Said Niles. "Or perhaps they will have changed their tactics and we'll all die, heh."

Corrin frowned a little, and prepared to say something, but Camilla was quicker to react.

"Alright then. We'll be following you, don't fail us, and make sure not to die! I heard that those ninjas give out _awful_ demises." "Encouraged" Camilla. "This'll motivate you not to get caught."

"Well, well, you've got me curious now." Answered Niles.

…

"… So, Sirius, heh?"

"Focus on the mission at hand, Niles."

"Oh, I am focusing on the mission. The one where you tell me why you'd give it a name, heh."

"Focus on the important mission at hand, Niles."

"Heh."

She hears the sound of a bow being pulled back, and an arrow shoot right over Beruka's head as she crouches, nailing an approaching ninja in the eye. Panicked, the Hoshidian's suffering end swiftly when another arrow crash into his chest, sending him flying over the edge of the mountain, accompanied by some surprised yelling from the Nohrian army below.

"I can multi-task quite well, miss Beruka."

Beruka stopped deactivating the little caltrop trap on the way, briefly looked at the sky, and went back to her work.

"Ninja on your right."

The pull back is quicker, this time, and so is the subsequent kill. The ninja drop to Niles's feet in one blow, having been hit in the brain.

"… Right. Anyway. I'm just surprised that you'd even bother to name it."

"Lord Corrin's idea."

"Ahh, our dearest dragon lord!"

"Hrm. Yes."

"You've been paired up with him after all. You're pretty lucky, my dear, I would've liked to… poke him a little, see what could get a rise out of him, what wouldn't…"

Beruka didn't respond, taking off the last caltrop. The traps were quite shoddy, but then again, it was quite hard to erect those on the traitorous path leading to the sanctuary of the Rainbow Sage. In Hoshido, they would find much bigger and much more well-hidden caltrops, and they'd be so well hidden that only Niles would be able to truly rat them out. The assassin knew, after all, that his skills at detecting traps were ultimately greater than her own.

But still, they seemed… half-hearted, as if Hinoka wanted the Nohrians to arrive. It seemed to be a dumb strategy, but perhaps the princess intended to merely trick them by concealing the next traps in a much more skillful manner. Or she simply wanted to duke it out with her brother and her "rival". If this were true, then she and Camilla would have a clash for the ages up on that mountain.

Not that Camilla would lose. The princess of Hoshido, like most of her countrymen, was weak and used to a life of comfort. Camilla was forced to fight for her life at a young age, like most of the members of the army (which spoke of Nohr's living conditions), and was sent to quell rebellions and rat out ninjas shortly afterwards. Soon, the Hoshidians were going to see the difference in power between their royals, and witness a strength that had been earned.

Beruka blinked, and shook her head. Hrm. Too dramatic.

"… If you're curious…"

"I'm not."

"… I'm paired with Nyx. I'm her "battle buddy", as they say. It seems that I'm always put up with the cranky women, heh… but, well, it's all the more exciting to see what happens when I break through your shells, don't you think?"

"…"

Beruka looked at Niles.

"There's a ninja sneaking up on you."

The bow is pulled back one more time.

…

Her axe effortlessly carved through the yumi and easily cut into the archer's armor, ending his life swiftly. Another attempted to avenge his friend, but Corrin intercepted him before he can even fire his arrow, cutting both his quiver and bow in half with sudden swiftness, before knocking him out with a punch to the jaw.

In turn, this allowed Beruka to focus on the remaining archer, accompanying the blue-haired retainer of Hinoka. While the latter managed to enter the stair in time, blood leaking forth from her shoulder, her generic compatriot get an axe to the face for his troubles, with enough force to pin his body to the wall.

"Great sho… oh!" Said Corrin. "W-w-well done though!" he complimented, peering at the corpse briefly in shock. Beruka bothered to glance at him, but promptly began heading for the stairs, being accompanied by her companions.

Upon arriving in the sanctuary, the Nohrians found it to be vast, and decided to split. A group, helmed by Corrin, and containing Felicia, Beruka, Arthur, Effie, Nyx and Azura (and the soldiers sent with them) was sent to the left, and soon disposed of the archers stationed there, with the exception of a particular blue-haired one, though the wound on her shoulder was too big for her to fight on unless a priestess was around.

"My friends!" Said Arthur. "Most treacherous traps surely await us! The next wave waits in this room!"

"We're going to form a wall. Stay back."

Effie stepped forth, and so did the others knights, forming a thick wall of iron. Azura sung, as if to give them more strength, and the knights climbed up, being greeted by a wave of shurikens almost immediately. Fortunately, unlike the rumors, the shurikens failed to even make a dent on the shields, and Corrin, Beruka and Arthur exploited this fact to quickly storm in the room, the knights deciding to open up their defense to allow them to pass through.

Six ninjas stood in their way, but Sirius managed to bite into one and Beruka swiftly delivered a ninja of some extra weight on his shoulders with her axe. A ninja moved to dodge Arthur's sweeping strikes, but slipped, of all things, and instead got struck in the chest. As for the other three, the youthful prince swiftly kicked horizontally, hurling the remaining Hoshidians backward and tossing them away with enough power to knock them out.

"Good work!" Said Corrin, eyeing the carnage apprehensively but attempting to sound positive. "Let's keep this-"

A shadow struck him backward, and did the same for Arthur, sending the two men reeling through the room. Understanding just what was happening, Beruka used her axe to deflect the shurikens heading for her, and Sirius lashed out at the shurikens's point of origin, though its scaly tail failed to hit anything beside the ground.

"Another hidden foe? What manner of fiend would sit and watch as his allies fall?" said Arthur, getting up. "Show yourself, shadowy warrior!"

Beruka rolled her eyes, but to her surprise, the ninja bothered to reveal himself, perhaps compelled by Hoshido's vapid sense of honor. The other soldiers showed up as well, meaning that the man was, by all intents, attempting to single-handedly take on several elites and half an (small as it was) army on his own, with some measly weapons meant for assassination.

"I was helping Setsuna. Lady Hinoka would be quite upset if she were to die."

"Kaze!"

The ninja had green hair, and a relatively light uniform of green color as well. He was lightly armored, beside two gauntlets with rather impressive blades, and slightly older than Lord Corrin himself. He was relatively calm in spite of his predicament, calmly analyzing each fighter and ever-so-quietly reaching for new shurikens in a pouch.

"So we meet again, Lord Corrin. I hoped that it would be as allies, but it seems that we'll need to battle once more."

"I'm sorry, Kaze… but we don't need to fight. Stand down!"

"No." He answered, being at least pretty clear on that. "Even when up against such odds, no Hoshidian will lay down his weapon. I'll take you on all by myself for.."

Beruka lunged forward and attempted to attack the ninja while the latter was in the middle of his little spiel, but alas, he avoided her attack and managed to kick her, with enough strength to kick her off her wyvern! Falling to the ground, the assassin got up in time to see Arthur try his luck at attacking the shinobi, only for him to once again punch Arthur away, in the path of Nyx. The hermit was forced to cancel her spell, if only because she couldn't move fast enough to dodge the bigger man otherwise, but the ninja reached her before she could try to perform it again, intending to try and knock her out with a kick to the head.

Fortunately, Effie got in the way in time, using her surprising speed to intercept the kick. And while such an attack could knock out the tiny warlock, the silver-haired woman took it in stride, going for a stabbing attack with her spear. In answer, Kaze kicked her again with greater strength, using her as a platform of a sort to jump and just barely avoid the pointy end of the spear.

The ninja landed on his hands, and gave a kick, briefly spinning like a wheel and effortlessly knocking away some of the less-armored units, sending them sprawling. Felicia attempted to intercept him by tossing about three daggers, but he used his arms-blades to deflect those, and promptly engaged the maid in a fight with shurikens of his own, the hidden blades clashing against one another.

For all her clumsiness and shy behavior, Felicia was actually holding her own quite well, matching the ninja for their short bout, and holding her own just long enough to receive assistance from Corrin and Azura. Still, ultimately, Kaze pushed her away (pointedly refusing to use a shuriken to stab her), and managed to repel Azura with a kick, sending her skidding even after using her naginata as a shield of a sort.

Corrin attempted to match the powerful fighter using nothing but his fists, but while he was visibly faster and stronger than Kaze, he quite lacked the experience to match up to the shinobi in the fight. The green man dodged each punch with ease, being metaphorically miles away from them each time, but every strike of his hit. And while the prince was of great constitution, shrugging off each strike, this only encouraged the shinobi to try and hit spots closer to the eyes or throat.

Beruka ran to his help, picking up one of Felicia's daggers and leaping into the fray. Her initial attack, a diving slash, was swiftly avoided, but she herself dodged his retaliatory punch. He had a longer reach than her, but Beruka compensated by being more aggressive, quickly forcing him to play defensive and try to parry her attacks. While skillful, Kaze was similar to the ninjas that she slew before, making it easy for her to see a pattern and exploit it.

For perhaps the first time in the brawl, Kaze seemed to actually have trouble, grunting as he intercepted her strikes and visibly frowning, in contrast with the zen expression that he bore when dealing with anyone else. Seeing this, Corrin went in once more, somewhat clumsily trying to help Beruka.

Luckily enough, Beruka's skill and Corrin's speed and strength complemented each other fairly well, and she was good enough to adapt to his unwieldy fighting style, attempting to punch or kick at Kaze in ways that made it harder for the young man to move around and dodge the dragon prince's attacks.

With a victorious scream, Corrin kicked forward and for once, Kaze was hit in the stomach, sending him flying at the other side of the room, though he was able to land on his hands and catch himself. More daggers and an hand axe flew at him, but he was able to jump away from them just in time, though he wasn't quite good enough to dodge the Fire spell that Nyx slung at him while he was in mid-air : a small explosion rocked the room, engulfing the ninja in it.

Ninjas, however, trained their body to more efficiently fight magic, and as a result, none of the soldiers were too surprised to see him emerge from it not too wounded, though he lost a sleeve and an arm-blade in the explosion. His wounds didn't seems to bother him too much, if anything, he looked happier than before, and not in the way _Peri_ was happy during fights.

"Such power, such determination! Perhaps the royal family was wrong about Nohrians!"

"… Kaze, why are you going easy on us?" Said Corrin. The other soldiers in the army stared at him incredulously, though Nyx, Azura and Beruka were less surprised than most.

"What do you mean, going easy?" said Arthur. "He is doing quite well, I must say!"

"He's not using his weapons on us." Said Beruka. "Past the surprise attack, or when we used daggers on our own, but he's sticking to punches and kick."

"Are you underestimating us, shinobi?"

Kaze shook his head at Nyx.

"No. You're all performing quite well. This was a test, yes, and I commend you for figuring it out, but I wasn't holding back this much."

"And what are you doing to do, now? You're wounded, Kaze."

"How observant, Lord Corrin." Chuckled Kaze. "I am going to retreat, but before I go…"

Sirius, who was recently relieved of his rider, dove for the ninja and slammed against the wall, practically busting it open and giving the fighters a nice view of the cliff below the sanctuary. His efforts, while impressive, were ultimately for naught : Kaze was standing on its back, arms folded, in the same position as before.

"… Please, do not be cruel to my countrymen. Do what must be done, but I ask that you do so respectfully."

Before Corrin could respond, Kaze vanished in a (impressive) burst of speed, and Beruka briefly looked around, contemplating a revision of her earlier notes about ninjas lacking superhuman abilities.

"A test? What did we need to prove?" Said Effie.

"I don't know… come on, let's help the others."

…

The two armies met up at a central room of a sort, filled with dead Hoshidians (and Nohrians, though in a lesser quantity). To her surprise, though, Lady Camilla and the elite Nohrians were absent, though the sound of battle up above were already quite clear.

"Let's go, everyone!"

Reaching the "last" room, leading to the Sage, revealed that the final fight was underway, and already in Nohr's favor : Beruka could see that only Hinoka, her retainers, some diviners and a few sky knights, and Niles was working on lowering that number with each arrows, skillfully taking down all but Hinoka, who was already locked in a battle with Camilla.

The Nohrian Princess bore a few cuts and bruises, and had a gash on her left cheek, but only a fool would deny that she had the upper hand, since her enemy was more battered, having been clearly struck by the Thunder spell quite a few times. The way she fought on regardless, desperately trying to stab the purple-haired princess of Nohr, was courageous but ultimately foolish, since each strike was deflected with casual ease by Camilla's axe.

One particular stab was done a little too violently, though, allowing Camilla to strike forth with her wyvern's tail. Both mount and rider were struck, and the red-haired warrior was sent flying off her horse and across the room, harshly landing on her back and rolling off the floor a little. The potency of her dragon blood gave her the resistance to shrug off such harsh shocks, but it was quite clear that they rattled Hinoka : when the warrior princess got up, she visibly needed the help of the blue-haired archer (her wound gone) to do so.

"Hinoka!" yelled Corrin.

"Kamui?" Said Hinoka, looking forth at her brother. Her brief gap in attention went unpunished, though. And while Beruka was tempted to strike, she intended to respect Camilla's orders.

"No, no, sweetie. It's Corrin."

Camilla's wyvern landed, and she got off it. By all accounts, the fighting was over : It was only the royal, her retainers, and a white-haired muscular woman of a sort, clutching a burning club. Selena was confident enough in her victory to walk over to Beruka, one hand on her hip.

"What was holding you up now?" She said. "We've had to do all the hard work for you!"

"A ninja held us up, he was… he was quite strong!" Defended Felicia.

"But we beat him." Said Effie.

"A ninja? Hurgh, we had that priest guy. He hit Odin with a weird spell of a sort too!"

Odin waved at them from far away. He was thinner and sickly looking, to the point where his clothes were almost too big for him, but that didn't seems to bother him too much, even if he needed Silas's help to avoid falling over. And even then, Silas was seemingly trying not to grab Odin too hard, perhaps out of fear that he'd snap him in half.

"Odin Dark's lifeforce has been cut in half by a most insidious attack! What manner of fountain of youth will restore his _COUGH COUGH_ silaspleaseholdontoodindarkhe'squiteconcernedaboutdroppingtothefloorandshatteringhiseverybones…"

"W-what did you say?" questioned Silas.

Beruka looked away from him, and was quite surprised to see that Corrin was walking up to Hinoka, in defiance of the potential danger that she posed to him. In a desire to prevent him from getting killed by his own naivety, the assassin walked up next to him, quietly holding unto her bloody Hand Axe to swiftly end any treacherous attack.

"Hinoka…"

"Kamui… So many years wishing… training for your return, too and… here we are… Please, don't tell me that they sent you to…"

"Execute you? Oh no, princess! Corrin will not need to support as sin as heavy as fratricide!"

Camilla held her axe up, pointing it at Hinoka.

"I, on the other hand…"

"Camilla, no!" Said Corrin. "We… we can't just kill Hinoka!"

"Oh, dear. I actually wished that it would've taken you some more time to get there now." Said Camilla. "So you wouldn't have to witness it, but alas, I cannot simply let those royals go. Takumi was one thing, but I'd look quite bad just giving up on opportunities to kill important commanders of the enemy army now, wouldn't I?"

"I know, I know but…how about we just capture her? We… we'd still have her and you wouldn't need to kill her!"

Camilla did seem to consider the option, which surprised Beruka. Had it been practically anybody else pleading, she would've remained unmoving. The assassin briefly considered knocking out the Hoshidians in that case, to prevent an escape, but alas, her opponents were quick to exploit the Nohrian's little lull, with the priest drawing a bizarre staff of a sort and promptly casting it.

The light promptly blinded most of the warriors in the room, preventing them from interfering in time. Beruka threw an axe just before being blinded but her weapon, while accurate, did not meet flesh : instead, its blade bounced against a surface, causing it to simply drop to the ground uselessly. When the Nohrians opened their eyes again, they faced a large protective field of a sort. Camilla and Beruka both attempted to break it with their axes, but once more their weapons bounced off. On the other side, the Hoshidians were getting up, with the priest dropping the completely burnt staff to the ground.

"A shield, hm? How cowardly of you!" Said Camilla.

Beruka wondered why the Hoshidians would not deploy such mighty barrier from the start, but the state of the staff and size of the barrier indicated that it was perhaps an incomplete spell or, at least, one meant to cover a retreat rather than help during a battle. She could see some proper applications for it, but the Hoshidians either didn't think of it or had different ideas on how to use it.

"Cowardly? You would dare to say such words after sending the Faceless hordes upon us? After sending the cursed sword…"

"Princess, we need to move." Said the priest. Hinoka turned around and sighed, turning to look at Corrin. The young prince had an expression of sorrow on his face, and so did Hinoka, but eventually, she steeled herself enough to turn away.

"Wait! Hinoka!"

The redhead did turn around, but before she could say anything, she was almost grabbed by the white-haired woman, entering a hidden entrance of a sort within the room. So few Hoshidians remained that the room was empty minutes before the barrier fell, with a bunch of soldiers running in immediately to access it and chase down the Hoshidians. Niles joined them, but the other "elite soldiers" didn't bother, aware of how slippery Hoshidians could be.

"Well, that was a success." Said Camilla, standing over Hinoka's slain flying Pegasus. "Aww, poor thing."

Beruka turned towards Corrin, who seemed to be sorrowful, more than he was against Takumi at the very least. However, his sadness vanished as soon as he noticed that she and others were watching him, seamlessly transforming into a nice smile.

"What is it?"

"You hesitated. That gave them the opportunity to flee." Said Beruka.

"Now, now my dear. Corrin was hesitant to slay his… second favorite big sister." Defended Camilla. "This is understandable, one cannot so easily kill a family member."

The wyvern rider turned towards her younger brother and quietly chided him, waging her finger in a disapproving manner.

"But Beruka is right. I understand what's troubling you, my boy, but the Royals are powerful, if only by virtue of being able to use Dragon Veins! I do know that facing your family is hard, but we can't just allow them to flee."

"I duly apologize." He responded, outright kneeling. "I'm sorry that I blew it, I…"

"Aww, my boy, you're acting as if you were talking to Xander or Father!" She said. "I understand. If you want, I can take care of that nasty part, but you need to help in taking them down, alright? The third one is the one that we'll disable. Heh, third time's the charm!"

"Yeah…" He said. "Well, I don't think that I can contribute that much to taking them down. You beat Takumi and Hinoka by yourself."

Camilla tousled his hair, of all things, and departed to instruct the troops, with Beruka opting to approach Corrin now that she was gone. His calm smile didn't quite fade when she showed up, but his body language got more nervous. She didn't react, not wanting to hear some half-hearted mumbled apologies out of him.

"I am curious."

"Aren't we… heh, all?"

"No. I saw the way you fight." Said Beruka. "In the sanctuary, you aimed to disable instead of killing. Why? At the port, you were using your sword."

"Well… I'm not against killing if it's in self-defense or if I can't afford to do it. At the port, we were getting swarmed, so I couldn't just hold back. But at the sanctuary, well… there were less enemies?"

"So, you'd rather disable unless the situation require lethality."

"Yeah, it's, erm, weird I know."

"Yes. You refuse to kill unless there are no other options. In a continental war. Why?"

"Whenever I fight someone, I think of… of their family, what they have at home, their friends, it's… hard to just slay someone without thinking about it. I don't understand how you could kill someone and just go over to your next victim without giving a single thought about what you did, it's… weirder than what I'm doing, if you ask."

"Why? You think of what these soldiers have waiting for them at home, but those very same soldiers are devoid of such hesitation. If they ever get the opportunity to slay you, they will do so without hesitation;"

"I'm aware, but… I can't just casually do it. You… well, I don't know how to say it."

"There are a lot of things that you do not know to do." She commented, dryly. He briefly looked vexed.

"I… well, I know… _that_ at least." He replied, as dryly as he could. "But how do you do it that easily? Kill?"

Beruka wished she could answer it simply, but her discussion with Corrin made him realize that their moralities were quite different : While she slew people for the sake of, well, her job, he only ever resorted to deadly force when the enemy was throwing waves of enemies at him.

The assassin had to get used to death quickly, to the point where she was numb to it by the time she killed her father figure of a sort. The dragon prince led a relatively peaceful life until he was brought out of his little nest in comparison, to her understanding.

Obviously, his siblings failed to properly bring him out of his shell. Garon's forcefully adopted children needed to fully use his full power, for it was considerable given his draconic might. But as long as he paid value to the lives of his enemies, then they would need to constantly put themselves in intense, all-or-nothing scenarios for him to resort to it (and while one could argue that all battles were like that, he apparently had different standards).

If she could get used to killing eventually, then so could he. She'd just need to "coach" him, so to say.

"… Unlike you, I cannot simply decide to disable or not. I had to kill early in my life, and I couldn't hold back on my enemies, for they would not offer the same courtesy on me, in spite of my age."

His eyes briefly widened in shock at that.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. I…"

"Hooo, quite the intriguing conversation." Said Camilla. "But you might need to postpone it, children."

"Why?" Said Corrin. "Are there more troops ahead?"

"Ohoh, that would be quite the sudden twist of fate! No, we need to meet the Rainbow Sage."

Camilla pointed to a door at the end of the hallway, and Beruka saw both Azura, Elise and, of all people, Selena near it. She looked at Odin warily, but the dark wizard looked better, going by his healthier skin tone and the return of his muscle mass.

"We're going to step in and receive quite the power, my friends! Thus, I decided to bring along Elise, Azura and you! And my dear retainers will be part of the voyage!"

"Why?" Questioned Beruka.

"At the edge of grasping a higher power and you'd ask questions? Come on, Beruka!"

Corrin looked at Beruka, as if asking to resume the conversation later, and she half-agreed. Admittedly, he was somewhat… interesting to talk to, if only because they weren't idly chatting.

"I wonder what the Sage looks like." Said Corrin.

"In a few seconds, you won't need to be asking that anymore, my dear Corrin!"

Beruka sighed.

…

**N/A : **I'm back ! Next up, I'm going to do the Hoshido fic !

The chapter was going to be longer, up to the events preceding chapter 12, but that's pretty long, so instead, have Chapter 11!

Apologies for the delay, but alas, I got this one out! Don't forget to critic and review, those help me a **lot! **And I do like to know what people think of the story and characters, especially since I might be going at a slow pace.

Anyway, see ya next time for a showdown with the lobster lord himself, Iago dickery and more!


	5. The meeting with the Rainbow Sage

The Rainbow Sage's « room », once entered, was… both over and underwhelming. In terms of size, it was obviously most mighty. Armies could perhaps fight or stand together within it and still have enough space for instance, and in terms of length, upon entering, they could see that that it stretched quite far, to the point where Beruka was unnerved to discover that it kept going past as far as her eye could see, seemingly stretching to infinity.

The room itself had large red pillars and large windows, allowing sunlight to filter through. A red carpet, depicting several figures battling against each other, laid at their feet. While Beruka was not a curious one, Corrin seemingly tried to figure out what was happening below him, frowning in confusion when he failed to recognize exactly what the fight was depicting.

At least, it involved several large figures with wings, like bigger versions of Sirius.

"I've never heard of a fight between dragons."

"I bet it wasn't as exciting as our fight against Hoshido!" Said Camilla, armor clanking as she briefly bent and observed the draconic war below. "But while this is quite the tapestry, I do believe that we came here for a different reason. Come on, onwards my friends!"

The group settled out. It took them very little time to figure out that something in the room was wrong : beyond its size, the Nohrians produced no sound after settling out. The clanking of armor, the sounds of their steps, even the sounds outside were all but muted. This seemed to unnerve the group, with even Selena looking close to drawing her sword.

Beruka, however, didn't mind, simply closing her eyes and accepting it. She could see any enemy come forth via more than sound after all. And she always had a liking for quietness. It made it easier for her to focus and clear her thoughts, especially with the recent events that brought some unneeded chaos to her life. Oh, not the war. It was a quick affaire and she didn't mind bloodshed. She just couldn't care less for boat trips.

The constant noises of the waves were distracting and Beruka wasn't appreciative of the way they were crammed within that thing, especially because of the numerous quirky people on board. Selena was already grating at her worst, but at least she also tended to just stay away from Beruka when they could. She didn't expect similar courtesy out of Niles, Arthur or many of the people here. At least she had Corrin as a "battle buddy" though, meaning that Camilla wouldn't grill her over it.

And speaking of Corrin…

"So erm… you know, it reminds me of a book I read at the fortress. It spoke of a war between dragons and…"

The whole group turned to stare at Corrin, who promptly experienced stage fright.

"Erm, sorry, it's distracting, I'll shut up."

"No, no, no. It was interesting. Come on, talk about it my dearie Corrin!"

"Heh…"

He blushed briefly.

"Well, there was a war that ended up in a stalemate, the dragons were too strong to die and couldn't overpower one another so… most left. But some stayed behind and decided to fight by proxy. And, and that's how Nohr and Hoshido and other nations were made and why we're hostile towards one another."

Like the dragons in the tale, he looked very much ready to leave as well at this point. This bothered Beruka further, but she didn't dwell on it.

"Whouah!" Answered Elise. "That explains eveerryytthhingg! But then aren't the dragons kind of evil? Why would they even fight in the first place?"

"What a nice little story." Said Camilla. "There's even a little justification for why we'd go at war." She continued, putting her hands behind her back, staring back at Corrin.

"As if all of our evil decisions could be traced to dragons." Said Beruka, almost by instinct. "This war is fought by humans at the behalf of humans. There is no superior deity pulling the string."

Selena briefly shook her head, but Beruka didn't care even as she noticed it, thinking that her intervention was already too much. Corrin did, however, briefly struggling to remember her name.

"Hey, Selena? Are you okay?"

"Hm? Y-yeah, yeah. I'm just so bothered by how LONG this hallway is! Come on now, it's not like we've got all the time in the world! And we already had to deal with a long walk!"

"Yeah, you're right. But I kind of prefer that over fighting Hoshidians out for my blood." He admitted.

"I hope that he'll be giving us some awards after this. I haven't walked all the way here to get a speech."

Beruka rolled her eyes and folded her arms. Luckily enough for them though, the universe was seemingly listening to Selena and was in a good mood. For, after a few seconds, their surroundings suddenly changed, causing the Nohrians to stop in their tracks in surprise. While most gawked, both retainers managed to draw their weapons, preparing to attack whatever foe managed to trap them all in an illusion.

The room around them was similar to the "wide hall" in layout, but much smaller. One could see the walls around them, for instance. And, in the midst of the area, there stood a black figure.

It was kneeling in the middle of a small red platform, noticeable by the amount of symbols and drawing around it. Beruka recognized some old Nohrian symbols, but they were tied with some Hoshidian ones as well. Above those symbols were smaller signs, belonging to the other nations. She recognized some and recognized the emblems of the smaller countries of Dreiz.

The figure was getting up at its own pace, though no one talked yet, almost mesmerized. Beruka wished to lift her axe and demand the unknown entity to speak, but alas, her arm felt heavy, as if her axe weighted tons, and whatever defiant question she had in mind died before it could leave her throat, with a faint whisper being perhaps all the mysterious presence heard.

She could see Selana's own plight, and even the royals looked like they could collapse at any second. Few things could rob Camilla of her flirty smile, but the retainer could definitely see outright worry on the face of her princess. Her royal blood, however, gave her the strength to lift her arm, as if trying to reach out. Distortions appeared around the air as the ground at their feet shook, causing the already unstable retainers to begin falling over, unable to keep their footing.

Luckily enough for her dignity however, the pressure on them stopped all of a sudden, allowing her to get back to a proper stance. Selena fell but she did manage to land somewhat acrobatically, preventing her from embarrassing herself in front of the royals. Not that any of them cared in the first place, being preoccupied with the unknown entity, though at this point, anyone would guess that they were facing the Rainbow Sage.

And indeed, the figure deliberately stepped out of the shadows to step into a ray of light filtered through one of the windows of its temple.

The surprising thing about him was how… weak he looked. The Rainbow Sage was a surprisingly small man, barely smaller than Beruka herself. He had green clothes and a tiny black and golden cape wrapped around his shoulders. To moved, he relied on a large staff, apparently finding it quite hard to move without it.

He had a long beard and a wise look on his tanned face, smiling slightly at the sight of the Nohrians (a first). In spite of his fragile appearance though, every single person in the room guessed that he had immense power, meaning that Camilla's next words had a surprising amount of respect tied to them.

"I salute you, O Rainbow Sage." She greeted. "We are the children of King Garon, ,the siblings of the Crown Prince Xander and the warriors of Nohr."

He nodded slightly.

"Oh I know my child. The dusk dragon's blood is present within some of you."

He quickly waved his hand.

"But I do appreciate the introduction. At my age, I often forget things." Finished the sage, closing his eyes and smiling slightly. Elise giggled but quickly stopped.

"There is no need to be so tense, young ones." Said the Sage. "I am no enemy of Nohr, nor am I an enemy of Hoshido."

"Apologies." Said Azura. "However, know that we come in peace, great sage."

"In peace?" he said, raising an amused eyebrow. "Hm… then what was all that ruckus outside, I ask? And why are you carrying such weapons?"

Beruka felt a chill, and realized that she no longed held her axe. And Selena's sword escaped her grasp as well, and so did Azura's naginata, and even Camilla and Corrin's own weapons. Elise was the only one left with her original item in hands, causing her to briefly hold it closer to her body. As for the Sage, the discarded weapons were laying at his feet, and his staff was now gone.

He was currently holding up Camilla's massive axe single-handedly, observing it in amusement and even spinning it in his hands. Corrin's Yato was held on his other hand, but he didn't really bother with it at the moment, simply contemplating the axe with something akin to amusement.

"Nohr's finesse with weapons has only increased with the years."

"War is in our blood." Answered Camilla. "But our weapons are decidedly far less potent than the power that you grant to those who successfully pass your challenges."

"Is that so?" He asked, still verifying the weapon. "What kind of power do you think I'll pass upon you."

"Flying and, huh, shooting lasers?" Asked Elise. She received a fairly nonplussed reaction from the rest of the group, though Corrin and Camilla smiled encouragingly (if sort of embarrassingly). The Sage, however, actually laughed out loud, though there was an element of mirth to his laugh that made it genuine instead of being the result of condescension towards the young princess.

"This is exactly what your father said to me." Answered the Sage. "But unfortunately, no. As attractive as this is, the power that I offer is perhaps less impressive-looking, but far easier to access."

"Oh, is this some "the power was in you all along" thing?" asked an annoyed Selena.

"Yes… though I do have an explanation, young one." He said.

The weapons warped back to their hand, except Yato. The Sage briefly stared at it, somewhat looking more serious than he did before. At times, he actually glanced at Corrin, worry present on his wrinkled face. The dragon prince smiled and awkwardly stood his ground in answer, trying not to look at him in the eyes.

"To gain my power, you need to complete a few tests. You need to cross Notre Sagesse's mountains, fight past my illusions and display patience."

"Your illusions?"

"Yes. Had it not been for the… energetic intervention of the Hoshidans, you would've been fighting them." He said. "I do bemoan the fact that war and death between humans happened within my domain, but you passed the test by fighting your way to me. And as for patience, it involved the hallway that you recently passed."

"So, I guess that our power grew as a result." Said Beruka, looking at her hand and briefly closing and opening it.

"You discovered your power, more precisely." Said the Sage.

"Your mind and your body must work together to ensure victory. If you do something that you'd rather avoid doing, your body will fail to release its full power and it'll be weak and brittle." He continued. "But if you remain focused on your objective and stay determined no matter what is thrown at you, the harmony between your mind and body will result in you tapping into a higher power."

"So, we just need to… believe in what we're doing?" Asked a disbelieving Selena.

"It's far harder than it seems." He answered. "Any human being will doubt their intention at some point. To truly be powerful, one needs to have the drive to never doubt themselves or their intention. At any point, regardless of what happens to them, they must not waver or doubt themselves for a single second."

"Sounds like a recipe for disaster." Said Corrin.

"Yes. Which is why so few gained my approval." Said the Sage. "Sumeragi, King Garon, Prince Ryoma, Queen Izanami, that man…"

Camilla raised a curious eyebrow at the mention of a queen long-dead. And by "long dead", she meant that Queen Izanami's grave was already overlooking the Hoshidian landscape when Garon himself was a newborn. Beruka, however, focused much more on the mention of a certain man, though she doubted that the Sage would say anything if given the occasion to.

"All of these have… or had the capacity to walk down the path that they have chosen without ever stepping off it. It would take a great event to cause them to doubt themselves."

"And what about us?"

The Sage smiled and shook his head.

"I'll tell you what I told Princess Hinoka : Most of you won't earn this power for now."

"What?!" Said Corrin, Selena and Elise in unison. Camilla made a grimace, admittedly very displeased.

"Except for that lady." Said the Rainbow Sage, pointing at Selena. "However, you all have doubts, hidden questions about yourselves, hesitations…"He continued. "You may think that your mind is set, but some of those doubts dwell deeper within your spirit than you realize."

Absurd. Beruka thought. She had no doubts about her life as an assassin, and was loyal to Camilla. What kind of doubt could dwell within her at this point? Perhaps the Sage was wrong she thought to herself. Or perhaps she didn't need a vague power-up to be effective. She certainly didn't need to prove herself to some old neutral fool, not after all that she already did at her young age.

However, Beruka managed to hide her quiet anger beneath an uncaring mask, as usual. Corrin, however, might as well have been physically struck by the Sage, going by the shocked expression on his face. He didn't look angry. Instead, he reminded her of a child after accidentally doing something to make his parents upset, all shocked and regretful. However, he quickly managed to compose himself, though his stammer was revealing enough of his true feelings on the matter.

"Do not be ashamed." Said the Sage, eyeing the two. "Doubts are part of the human spirit. Very few can successfully do something without having at least one second of hesitation over it. I'd even argue that the power to dedicate one's entire self to a task is potentially dangerous." He said. "Not passing my challenge does not make you weak, nor is it a mark of shame. Everyone, be it on this very continent or beyond, would fail more often than not. Even those who have earned it required more than one try."

"Then… then I'll wait a few years and I'll come back." Blurted out Corrin.

"It is possible. However, your spirit, intense as it is, is full of doubts my boy. You are a child of… two worlds, who will always think back of the choice that he made. Be it now, or in some months, or in years. However, there will be times where such doubts will vanish, if only temporarily, and you will gain a might the likes of which will be written down in legends."

Corrin smiled slightly at the description and scratched the back of his head, attempting not to blush.

"… What about me?" Beruka found herself asking. Camilla actually seemed surprised by that, to the point where she was temporarily pulled out of her unusual contemplation. Selena seemed content to quietly enjoy her victory (unusually enough for her), folding her arms and lowering her head briefly. As for Elise, she was simply looking at the rest of the group, unwilling to add her opinion.

Azura, meanwhile, was silent. The woman was quite chatty with Corrin but when it came to talking with others, it would be perhaps easier to get answers out of a mute. The assassin rather appreciated that though, if only because the presence of yet another loud yet quirky newcomer would probably cause her to throw someone overboard.

"You wouldn't like being at the center of the attention, would you now?" Said the Sage. "You know of the reasons that hold you back."

The Sage turned his eyes to look at the rest of the group.

"I've told you all enough. However, young man, before you go, allow me to have a closer look at your sword." Said the hermit.

"W-well, you already have it so… "

The Sage chuckled and lifted his sword up in the air, pointing at the ceiling. Then a light shone out of Yato. While initially quite dim, it soon grew stronger, to the point where many choose to shield their eyes away. Corrin was the only one not bothered by the light and apparently wasn't even aware that it existed, since he looked confused at his allies's sudden plight.

"I, who forged the sacred blade... I, who committed the great sin... I, who wove the divine colors... I call on you now, Seal of Flames!"

The group looked on curiously as the glow of the light faded, and Corrin walked forward to grab Yato, turning around to show that it… didn't change at all. Beruka heard Selena groan as she tried to wipe her eyes.

"Geez, you should warn us before you do that!"

"Hm… it hasn't changed much." Said Elise.

"It has." Said Azura. Elise yelped and turned around, not having expected Azura to speak up. "Its power is different. It is no longer dormant."

"Yeah…" Simply replied Corrin.

"Sharp eyes, you two." Said the Sage. "The Yato was dormant, but I've awakened it. It is ready to evolve and grow now, like a seed."

"How will it evolve?" Asked a curious Corrin. "Will it grow with my resolve?"

"You'll understand soon enough." Said the Sage. "Which is why you should leave Notre Sagesse and continue your story. Plenty of troubles await you, and as we are speaking, this foolish war is, without a doubt, ravaging the continent."

"We'll be on our way." Said Camilla. "We'll leave some soldiers behind to prevent those sore losers of Hoshido from coming back. Don't worry though, as you'll discover, Nohrians can be quite lovely."

"Err, thank you Rainbow Sage! If we meet again, I'll try to bring you some presents from the city!" Promised Corrin, sheathing his sword.

Most of the group turned around, witnessing a white door in front of them. Beruka, eager to be done with the esoteric business of the Sage, nearly allowed annoyance to appear on her face when he sighed.

"You won't need to put guards, my dear, and I am afraid that the honourable people of Hoshido will be quite disappointed if they come back here."

"What do you mean?" Said Camilla, turning around at the speed of sound.

The old man quietly pointed a spot next to Camilla and after two seconds, a purple person-shaped cloud of smoke appeared next to her. Then, the smoke gained a shape, and solidified, soon revealing the extravagant clothes and gaunt face of… Iago, the king's eminent right-hand and the master strategist of Nohr.

Such fine titles hid a most despicable person, however. Iago was a sycophantic coward with a knack for pushing around those below him on the hierarchy while sucking up to the royals and Garon. While he was certainly a powerful sorcerer, he was also quite easy to intimidate in spite of his position and powerful sorcery, to the point where Beruka honestly believed that a child could send him running to the hills if said child used the right words.

His presence here was not really welcomed as a result, but there was little that even the royals could do to chase him away at this point.

"Ohhh, congratulations Lady Camilla, Lady Elise… Lord Corrin." He said, a smug smile appearing on his pale visage.

"What are you doing here Iago?" Asked Corrin. "Oh… you're using some long-range spell, aren't you?"

"Why, let us throw a round of applause to Lord Corrin for his brilliant deductive abilities!" Answered the mage. "I am glad, yet unsurprised, of your success with the Sage, Lady Camilla. Why, you even found the Rainbow Sage himself!"

As for the sage, he briefly stared at Iago, looking displeased with his presence. But the old man also looked… surprised? In fact, after the appearance of the Nohrian general, h opted to just look around at his room, with a forlorn look on his face.

"Yes, Iago. Report this to father and leave us at once." Said Camilla, smiling slightly while tapping the wooden floor with her shoe.

"Oh, I will quite happily do so! But unfortunately, I am here to bring news, and it would be quite unprofessional of me to leave without delivering them!"

"Then speak, you glorified courier boy!"

Iago glared at Selena before turning to face the Royals. He couldn't move using his magical projection, since the mobility of those tended to decrease with the distance between the user and whatever place he was projecting to.

"King Garon has found out that the Hoshidians may use the Sage to empower themselves. Why, some say that they've already done so for Prince Ryoma! Imagine the horror if the Eastern savages manages to empower the whole royal family!"

"Princess Hinoka failed to do that, Iago. And if a single Hoshidian dares to lay a single foot on this island again, he'll find it cut off the very next instant. Now begone."

Iago frowned briefly but composed himself in time.

"It is the King's order, Lady Camilla. It cannot be overruled. And it is quite the concise effort as well!" Answered the sycophant, turning to face Corrin.

"Lord Corrin, you must kill the Rainbow Sage, this very instant."

…

**A/N : **Guess who's back from the grave? It's me, Vanto! I gained the motivation to continue this fanfic, thanks to some renewed motivation, and I plan on not waiting for months to deliver the very next chapter!

I've briefly changed the events of the meeting with the sage but Kaze will be recruited early on anyway.

Iago isn't very different from his canon self but Garon, in spite of his order, is probably going to be quite different. Though I don't plan to really turn him into a good guy. It'll become clear later on.

Anyway, see you guys later! Reviews are important so don't hesitate to drop them if you want to critique or point out something!


	6. The departure from Notre Sagesse

Iago might as well have dropped a lit bomb at the feet of the group going by the sudden shock in the room. Only Beruka managed to keep a straight face, if only because she expected him to come and deliver such a task, but even she had to somewhat restrain herself. Camilla's shock quickly faded into a strained smile though, and she proceeded to fold her arms.

"You must've heard wrong, Iago. Why would Corrin himself murder the Sage?"

"So said the King… but, Lady Camilla, if you wish to do it yourself, then by all means…"

He made an unpleasant smile himself and pointed at where he guessed the Sage was. Camilla nodded, grabbed her axe, and approached the old man. Corrin observed her in the background, looking more and more surprised and briefly taking a step forward to try and stop her. Beruka grabbed his shoulder though, quickly stepping forward to do so.

The prince's head veered in her direction, with obvious shock on his face.

"Beruka! We… I… I can't just let Camilla murder the Sage!"

"She's completing your mission. Be thankful that Lady Camilla is still willing to take matters into her own hands."

He briefly attempted to form an answer but then sighed and looked down, perhaps secretly thankful that he didn't need to carry it out himself. In the background, Azura carefully proceeded to put her fingers in front of Elise's eyes, as if shielding her from the view. The princess, who wouldn't usually appreciate that, was quite happy to let her do so. Selena simply looked at Camilla, as if expecting a last-second trick on the part of the princess, when it didn't look like that was happening, she groaned and closed her eyes, briefly looking down at the ground.

"Apologies, O Sage." Spoke Camilla, twirling the axe before swinging it horizontally at his neck. Beruka expected to see his head come off but, to her surprise, the somewhat familiar-by-now sound of metal encountering (and tearing) through flesh did not resonate in the room.

Instead, it sounded like metal encountering another metal.

This time, Beruka couldn't contain her own surprise as she saw the Sage casually stand there, with not even a scratch on his neck. By all intents, the axe only merely bounced on his skin. A weapon that could tear through armor with ease had seemingly met its match in the form of an old decrepit man. This was such an absurd idea that the assassin actually stepped back in shock, along with pretty much everyone else in the room.

"From what I can see and hear, I gather that you've attempted to fell the Sage with an Earthly weapon, am I right? I'm quite afraid that he's one of a kind. No magic or weapon or, so I've heard, natural disaster can overcome this old debris."

"How do you even know that?!" Barked Selena.

"I've been informed of this by King Garon myself, and I didn't see it fit to share it with you as a surprise of a sort." He said. "But fortunately for you, the one weapon that can end his life is present, within this very room! Corrin, wielder of the Yato, you may now engage in the slaughter of the old man."

"If Yato is necessary, I'll just pick it up. Corrin dear, be a good boy and hand me…"

The Sage shook his head sadly. "The Yato can only be wielded by a certain person. In the hands of anyone else, it is a dull weapon. You would struggle to cut your paper with it, I dare say."

"He's right." Said Iago. "As fate would have it, our dear little Corrin is the one person in the entire world who can kill the Sage! And of course, he'll do immediately and without protesting, for if he were to refuse, I would be disappointed… but far less so than King Garon himself."

The blue-haired young man opened his mouth to speak out but opted not to, quickly staring at the Sage and Iago himself. This seemed to greatly amuse the Sorcerer, to Beruka's regret. She could barely stand his posturing.

"Oh Corrin, have you forgotten how to walk? I'll tell you what to do. You draw that thing –that's a sword- out of its sheath. Not by the pointy end obviously. Then, you take three steps, and you swing it at the antiquity until he's dead. King Garon is happy, so am I, and we can happily go back to the slaughter!"

"Corrin… I'm sorry. It looks like you'll need to do it." Said Camilla, stepping back.

"Corrin, we'll be here for you. You need to do it."

Elise was silent for once, overwhelmed by the situation. After looking at his sisters, Corrin turned to face Beruka, who frowned. Had she been in his situation, she would've already killed the Sage. He already killed those Hoshidians anyway. What separated the Sage from those? Why was he hesitating at a time like this? Why would he even feel sorry for someone he barely met?

"… I'll help you."

Corrin, who was quite silent because of his struggle, briefly widened his eyes before being pushed forward, towards the Sage. Beruka put her hand on the Yato and drew it out of its sheath, before handing it over to him. The young man grasped his weapon and looked at his future victim, who had been standing still for a while now.

"What's the matter Corrin? Do you need someone's help to do anything?"

"Enough."

The Sage raised his hand, and Iago's mouth vanished. It wasn't torn off or destroyed : it was just… wiped away, leaving nothing but skin behind. The surprised sorcerer muffled in surprise and clawed away at his skin of a sort, losing his entire composure. The prince looked at him in curiosity, but Beruka quietly shifted his head towards the Sage and pointed.

"Aim for the neck. He will not feel any pain if you decapitate him."

"Whatufu… Beruka?! Are you… are you teaching him how to kill?!"

Corrin's eyes widened further but Beruka chose to let go of him. The Sage smiled gently, as if accepting his fate. The whole room fell into silence, anxiously awaiting Corrin's move.

"Have no fear, my boy. Do not throw away your life for the sake of a dying old fool. Remember, whenever you will doubt as you wander through the night, that you are worthy of the Yato, and that at the end of your trials, there will be much happiness."

The old man smiled, one last time.

"Farewell, Corrin!"

"… Farewell, sage."

Corrin sliced exactly as told.

And, this time, the sound that resonated through the room was familiar to Beruka's ears.

The old man's head flew off and hit the ground near Beruka's feet as his body collapsed. Corrin, who was now certainly covered in blood, took a few steps backward, in obvious shock. Before Beruka could move a inch though, Camilla was already on her younger brother, attempting to hug him.

"I'm so sorry Corrin! I should've been the one to help! Are you okay?!"

Beruka simply turned towards Iago : the Sorcerer's breathing was quite rattled, perhaps as a result of the Sage's final spell on him. She quietly pointed at him for the sake of Camilla, who groaned and turned around.

"Are you satisfied?"

"… Yes." He said, eyeing Corrin (and straining to turn his head). "I'll… report this… to the King. You've done it… you may be more of a Nohrian… than I thought."

The image faded, and the group, seeing no further interest ahead, turned around to head back. Azura was quick to hush Elise out of the room and so was Camilla with Corrin, forcing the two retainers to lag behind a little. Selena approached her companion, almost hissing. Beruka didn't quite grasp why she was angry, but figured that she'd be aware of the reason very soon.

"Beruka, what were you doing?!"

"I helped him with his task."

"I saw that but… come on, you just dragged him in front of the old man and told him how to perform a decapitation, what in the dusk dragon were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that he would need help to perform the execution... Though I fail to gather why he was so hesitant."

"Because he's not an assassin Beruka, wake up!" Whispered Selena, grabbing Beruka's arm and dragging her out of the room. "He can't be asked to kill somebody and do it that easily, come on!"

Beruka frowned lightly and quickly freed her arm from Selena's grasp.

"He didn't hesitate in earlier fights."

"Yeah, because… because… hrmph." Groaned the redhead, massaging the bridge of her nose. "Why don't you ask him why he's not comfortable with cold-blooded murder?"

"I will." Said Beruka.

Selena looked like she was about to say something else, but before she could do so, Beruka opted to immediately apply her advice, running forward to catch up with the prince, ignoring Selena's furious surprise. There was no point in continuing the conversation now that she had something to do after all. At least from Beruka's point of view, it could be freely resumed at any point, and should be abandoned once there was a greater objective in sight.

She quickly had the Royals back in sight. Camilla seemed busy wiping away the blood with her hand, while Elise was nowhere to be seen, being perhaps distracted by her retainers and Azura elsewhere. It made it easy for Beruka to stop near the distracted royals. Corrin seemed shaken, but there was a spark of a sort in his eyes as he turned around to face her.

"Oh, Beruka… you… is there something happening?" He said. She shook her head in answer.

"I am… merely curious about your condition. Are you doing alright?"

Corrin took the time to stop shaking his hands, then proceeded to stand up straight instead of vibrating at high speed, then needed three tries to smile in a way that wasn't obviously strained, then looked at Beruka in the eyes instead of attempting to glance at the ground at her feet or the ceiling far above her and finally had his brain and vocal cords fight before finally speaking up.

"I'm totally fine."

"Good." She said.

"Oh Beruka dear, I appreciate that you're taking time to check on Corrin, but as you see, he is obviously stricken by the bloody events that happened today!"

"Indeed. Which is why I desire a talk with him. I am most curious with his… behavior, and would like to ask him questions about it."

"Questions?" Asked Corrin. "Like what?"

Beruka prepared to speak up but before she could do that, she felt a presence drop down in front of the duo, causing her to immediately grab her axe. Camilla, as swift as her retainer, quickly formed a barrier between whoever was going to attack and Corrin, with herself as the barrier.

"You're swift."

The air in front of the women and prince contorted a little, and then Kaze emerged, arms folded. He had a little amiable smile on his face, and the weapons pointed at him, as well as the rapid arrival of several member of Corrin's army. The Sevenfold Sanctuary's entrance became the site of a most bizarre sight, with a lone man casually observing the ragtag group in front of him. He did eventually drop his smile though, as he realized that perhaps he bit off more than he could chew.

Still, he seemed confident in his ability to leave at anytime. Mostly by virtue of his sheer speed however.

"K-Kaze?!"

"Lord Corrin, I am sorry for intruding on you in these… trying times it seems." Said Kaze. "But I not here to fight."

As a show of goodwill, he raised his hands above his head, and even kneeled. If it were up to Beruka, she would've ordered an attack by now, but it was up to the young dragon prince.

"Then why are you even here? If this is a trap…"

"I am alone. You've slain the other ninjas." Said Kaze. "And furthermore, I am no longer working with them."

Silence.

"… Excuse me?" Asked a random archer. Kaze didn't bother answering him, waiting for Corrin to speak. And he quickly did.

"W-what?"

"I would like to ask to join your troops, Lord Corrin."

"Am I mishearing something? You want to… join us?" Asked Corrin. "You… you just fought us, why would I…"

"And I left you after I was satisfied." Replied Kaze. "I am very aware of the absurd nature of my query. Thus, allow me to explain myself."

"… Go ahead?"

"Just kill him." Whispered Beruka to Corrin.

"My finger's twitching. I might need to nock the arrow." Followed Niles.

"Corrin dear, I was plotting out smarter traps back when I was nine…" Concluded Camilla.

"I've seen Nohr." He said. "But the recent events have made me aware of the level of discomfort of its inhabitants. The land is barren, bandits roam the roads, the sun is forever hidden away…"

"Hm-hm. Water is wet, the sky is blue, Nohr's an hellhole." Said Niles. "And a hellhole that we're proud of."

"We care not for your pity, ninja." Said Nyx. "The Qlipoth rot has been killing the land before you were even born, and Hoshido has always refused to help. And why is it a surprise to you? I thought Hoshidians would be well-informed of its state, and ninjas even moreso. After all, you do like paying visits to what few farmers remains."

"I was mostly deployed to Mokushu, and I was only recently sent on a mission to Nohr. And Hoshidian propaganda depict Nohr in a different light." Said Kaze. "They say that you did it yourselves, and exaggerate the plight of your land."

Nyx huffed in answer.

"So you see some dead trees and roaming bandits and you decide to betray your country and friends?" Said Selena.

"There is more than that. Shortly before the fight, I gained the opportunity to see the Sage."

Corrin's head rose and he stared at Kaze, now much more interested. Beruka shook her head at him slightly, but he didn't listen.

"He told me of Yato's prophecy. Of how a powerful being, wielding this sword, will eventually save a country in peril. I have come to see that Nohr is said country. And as a result, Corrin's actions are righteous. And I believe that with the power of the sword, he will prevent any revenge upon Hoshido, and create peace."

"Oh, for the love of…" Niles sighed. "Here's a prediction for you : my arrow sailing right through your head. Lord Corrin, if you will…"

Corrin took a few steps forward and prepared to announce his decision.

…

Looking back, it was a time of weakness for Corrin. He had performed a cold-blooded murder on a benevolent, helpless old man, had a fight with several Hoshidians, and briefly saw his sister-turned-enemy right before said murder.

Beruka thought that her attempt at helping would make him stronger and drive him to become hardier, but only too late did she realize that what worked for her wouldn't work for him. If anything, for a short while, this made him frailer, more desperate, more willing to try and save a life when he saw one. Of course, multiple factors forced Corrin to be the one to end the old being's life, and he would've needed to be the one to do the deed in the end, perhaps Beruka should've tried to be softer in her approach, or not been as forceful.

Regardless, Corrin's decision here was the result of several events. Perhaps things could've turned out better otherwise, she didn't really know and since it was in the past, there wasn't much to do beyond regretting.

To make things such, several factors brought this pivotal point.

…

"Alright, Kaze, you're in."

A wave of whispering punctuated by several loud exclamations of surprise soon inundated the room, but Corrin stood there, unusually forlorn. Beruka was surprised in his decision perhaps, but at the same time, he approved a little of his expression, thinking that this was perhaps a sign that she convinced him. That, and his next action was a swift one.

"But." He said. "You will give away your weapon. You will always be accompanied wherever you go and you will tell us what Hoshido's strategy is."

Kaze agreed slowly.

"A wise decision, Lord Corrin. Fear not, I will prove useful."

Like a waterfall, weapons soon escaped his grasp, revealing a bunch of Kunais, Shurikens and even scrolls. Those were promptly acquired by a pair of Knights and Niles himself, who briefly gauzed Kaze before looking at Corrin.

"Can I at least time him up or do I get him a red carpet?"

"Tie him up of course."

Niles, satisfied, proceeded to turn his head to grin at a suddenly-nervous Kaze. There were mumbles in the rest of the army, but ultimately, no one really wanted to contest Camilla and Corrin. It didn't stop anyone from approaching the latter though. Soldiers and more important members of the army were all willing to share their grievances. Beruka waited however, not wanting her opinion to be lost in the storm.

Only Nyx remained away from the others, pensive. Wisps of purple magic escaped from her fingers at times.

"E-erm, Lord Corrin, huh… this is… maybe not very wise but I trust in you!"

"You know ninjas eat infants right? I've heard of that."

"Corrin, my friend! While it is very good to spare enemies, know that evil-doers often hide away from any light offered by justice, to return to the shadows and find a better way to try and snuff it out!"

"He means that Kaze's dangerous, sir."

"Huh, Corrin… you do you, I guess! If my big bro think it's safe, than it's safe!"

"Ninjas are sneaky, so you better get good people to watch for them!"

Corrin switched to a more friendly face for the time being, awkwardly raising his hands to prevent people from getting too close and closing his eyes. Briefly, he attempted to look for someone, his eyes eventually locking towards Beruka.

"Look, he's with the entire army, and he can give intelligence. We're not going to let him get close to other Hoshidians too! He's going to be a prisoner."

"Where's the prison then?"

"Don't worry, I have this-I have this planned out."

Camilla's return caused members of the army to flock away eventually, and before Corrin could reach Beruka, he still had to talk with her.

"Corrin dear, we'll head back with the ninja. We'll need to set out for Macarath immediately after all! Could you be a dear and get the preparations going for the ship?"

"Of course! I'll need to fly there though!"

"Oh, luckily for you, there is a beautiful woman out there with her own wyvern to fly! And, wouldn't you know, she is very close to where you are right now! If you look just right, you can spot her!"

Camilla put her arm around Corrin, and then placed her other hand on her armored chest.

"But I need to handle the return home, since traps could be on the way and the ninja may need to be handled! But luckily for you, I think Beruka is _burning_ with the desire to talk with you!"

"Really?" Asked Corrin. The blue-haired young woman groaned and walked forward in answer.

"My body heat is experience its usual activity. However, I do wish to talk with you. Come, we'll do it on the way to the boat."

Unwilling to have someone like Azura –who had been standing to the side in silence for a while now- or another member of the army slow them down, Beruka grabbed Corrin's hand and began walking out of the sanctuary with them. He stammered behind her, walking at a fast pace with her. Niles, who was busy tying up Kaze, threw a vicious smirk her way, but Beruka simply scowled, causing the outlaw's focus to switch back to the shinobi.

Upon reaching the exit, Beruka simply gestured, and Sirius, who had been put nearby after the group's entrance into the Sage's quarters, flew next to them. Beruka deftly jumped on top of it. Corrin stared at the second "seat" and climbed over. Sirius, being quite bulky, only briefly grunted. Had there been more than two people, it would've been a problem, but he was strong enough to easily carry them both over.

"So, huh… do I like…"

"Like what?"

"Do I kind of… hold unto you or…."

A more normal individual would've stammered as well, but Beruka simply pointed at a black belt on his life. Corrin nodded and tied it around his stomach. Then, he noticed the stirrups next to him. They were more akin to boots though, with the user placing their legs (up to their knees) in them to avoid falling off. Then, once he was done, she heard him gasp.

"You're not putting on the belt?"

"No."

She began taking off.

"If you get shot down, or if the wyvern is panicking, this equipment is of little use. It's only a crutch. And a crutch's eventual destiny is to be remove"

Corrin actually managed to let out a surprisingly high-pitched screech. Beruka stopped, if only to make him aware that she heard, and then continued her speech (or rather, ended it).

"removed."

"Y-yeah… I get you it's just… oh whoah, I… I…"

Corrin looked at the vegetation below. The endless patches of green surrounding vast mountains, the mighty Sevenfold Sanctuary growing smaller and smaller with each passing second (with the ants-sized Nohrians in front of it), the blue sea around the island, Notre Sagesse in the distance and even the Sun, even further, that was preparing to set.

"Whoah…"

He leaned to the right slightly, observing the landscape. In contrast with his greatly saddened face from a few minutes ago, Corrin right now looked nothing sort of positively enthralled by the sight of Notre Sagesse. Turning around slightly, Beruka caught herself looking at his face for a few seconds longer than she intended to, if only because it took her by surprise.

Few Nohrians could ever look as enchanted as Corrin was in this very moment, for Nohr's sinister landscape was not the kind of sight that would ever inspire wonder, and because the conditions within the proud country allowed few to really express this kind of genuine joy.

Corrin eventually shook his head and leaned back, now confused again.

"Sorry, I'm just…"

"Surprised by the environment, hm?"

"… Yeah. Is it… is it always like this? You can take off and kind of see the world? Just kind of float above all manners of trouble and…"

"No. I've been shot at with arrows… and furthermore, I have better things to do most of the time."

Beruka allowed a slight silence to float through.

"You've never been on a wyvern?"

"Only a few times. Camilla tried to get me to ride her own wyvern when I was younger. It was nice but the environment around the fortress was… dour. And, heh, at some point Camilla had her wyvern give a scar to Felicia, when she noticed that she was hanging out near the window. Xander wasn't really happy about this and neither was Gunter… hm."

Corrin's mirthful smile, which grew with his retelling of the story, dropped as he concluded it. Beruka made it seems like she didn't know about it before, to be "polite", but she heard all those stories years ago. Selena wasn't around at the time, so Beruka was often taken aside to hear more tales of the Nohrian royal siblings and their "wacky hijinks!" (as put forth by the purple-haired princess). She knew things about Corrin that he probably wouldn't want to be known by anyone.

"Gunter… the old man, right?"

"Yeah, he's my caretaker. He was wise yet strong. He would probably be fighting with us right now if it weren't for that fu… for that bald brute, Hans."

Beruka allowed surprise to briefly appear on her face, somewhat stunned at the venom in Corrin's voice. The man sounded like he could find redeeming qualities in the likes of Iago, but the way he talked about Hans had a wrathful edge to it, and she swore that he gripped his seat harder.

"… He was a good man and my fa… my favorite retainer, errmm, don't tell Felicia heh."

"Odd." Asked Beruka.

"What's odd in that? He mattered to me. It'd be weird if I just forgot all about him. He's probably one of the first persons I remember." Answered Corrin.

"I find it odd to mourn." Answered Beruka. "Perhaps early on it is fine, but a life that has ended has no more value."

"That's a… odd point of view, Beruka. I mean, people shouldn't always look back yeah but still. If I had someone close to me die, I'd probably need time to move on. Like Silas, or Azura or, hey, Camilla."

"What about her?"

"We'd both be sad if she were to die, right? Not like there's anything in the world that could do it, heh."

"… I would simply be displeased at falling my task. As a retainer, I must ensure that my lord lives on. If she dies, then I have failed."

"But what about Camilla as a person?"

Beruka's hands griped harder on the handle she was using.

"I do not care about Camilla, nor Selena, as persons. I will protect them if I must, but none of them are my friends. And so are you."

"Why?" He said, admittedly a bit surprised. "Camilla seems to like you."

"Because I do what she wants me to do, it is that simple. People care about others as long as it suits their needs, and they just hide it well. They offer you warmth, and nice things, and smiles! And compliments! And a new life! But if you ever slip up then they'll take all of that away! And they'll leave you rip and desperate for the next person to pick you up to lie again! And since you don't want to…"

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and slowly came to the realization that she ranted in front of Corrin. The idea of expressing anger was alien enough, but the feeling that came over to her as Corrin kept his hand on her shoulder somehow made it worse. Like the prince was pitying her.

_Pitying her._

"I didn't know that this was a touchy subject, I'm sorry."

"…"

Grey eyes bore towards him, but Beruka simply rose her head instead, to take a breather. She hadn't expected to let loose like that in front of anyone, especially the prince. How this casual question from a naïve prince, who was still discovering the world, rile her up like that was most curious.

"I'm just going to drop the subject if you want…"

"… Why do you even care about other people?"

Beruka bit her lips, and attempted to resume her usual neutral to-the-point-of-monotone manner of speaking;

"What do you mean?"

"What drives you to express such compassion towards persons you barely know?"

"Well, I can't really give you an answer because it's… natural, I assume. Well, no, bad phrasing, I mean, I just do. People have histories, families, personalities, it doesn't feel right to just end them." He said. "And I dislike seeing people in pain or worse. So being the reason for why they're even suffering is even worse."

He shifted in his seat and then remembered that he was way above the ground and wisely sat straight.

"It's why I spared Takumi. He… he's the enemy of course, but something terrible happened to him right before I went back to Nohr, so I understand why he's angry."

"You will need to kill him eventually."

"Yeah, I know… but I don't know if I could even kill someone easily. I mean, when I'm fighting and there's just the adrenaline, and I know that there's way too many of them to knock out, I can do it but afterwards, I… I just feel what I've done and it kind of stick on me."

He briefly looked away and admired some flying birds in the distance, pointing at them and letting out a little surprised sound.

"How do you do it? How do you just kill someone without experiencing any trouble over it?" He asked. "I'm not trying to be hurtful even if I must be, I-"

"I started young." Said Beruka. "And I did not kill because I wanted to. What I did, I've done it for… warmth."

A brief silence ensued.

"Warmth?"

"I'll tell you later." She said, feeling that she revealed more than she should have.

"Alright but can I ask you something?"

"… Yes."

"Do you have hobbies?" He asked. "If you want, you and I we could try to hang out together." He said. "If you want, of course! But I feel that perhaps I could try to change the way you see people and how they care about you. I won't force you, and I get that things must've happened, but I guess I want to make you realize that I care."

"Hm… you want to "hang out" with me like how you hang out with Silas or that singer."

"Yes, kind of. You're not obligated though;"

Beruka thought that he wouldn't stop asking her if she were to refuse, since the young man wasn't the type to easily give up on something when he settled out to complete it. She also thought that perhaps this was another trap of a sort. That he'd just turn out to be like _him_ and try to exploit her, and that he was waiting to lower her guard before striking… but some part of her swelled when she heard the proposal, like she knew he wouldn't betray her.

It was a small part of her, and the emotion felt odd and overbearing but for the first time in a while, Beruka felt… good. However, she waited before giving out her answer, landing Sirius close to the dock and walking towards the ship. It took her several steps before she turned around to glance.

"… I do like checking out weaponry."

He smiled awkwardly and followed her. For some reason, Corrin felt less afraid of the future struggle at Macarath.

…

**N/A : **Corrin and Beruka begins to get somewhat chummy, though Beruka has her suspicions still. I don't plot for them to really be friends – and more – until later. I'd say that they're just ready to know each other better.

Stuff like Corrin having to kill the Sage is perhaps brutal but it's because I never liked the way the Sage just somehow kill himself. I think having to do the deed himself will shake Corrin, put some blood in his hands and help him in deciding to recruit Kaze. He does recover from the shock quickly but it's more of a stepford smiler thing in my opinion.

Kaze joins the team! Those of you who read "Peacetime Confusion" will perhaps know that something goes awry with him eventually. What exactly? Time will tell.

I planned to have a scene where Ryoma kick ass but the chapter was already long and I think Ryoma will get the occasion to do that soon enough. Poor Corrin.

Reviews are warmly accepted of course! Your voice matters!

See ya later (hey it rhymes).


	7. The invasion of Macarath

The Nohrian boat made its way through the calm sea, the lights of Notre Sagesse having long since faded in the background, allowing the embarkation to be illuminated by the moonlight above them.

Few Nohrians were currently asleep, owing to the post-victory party that was taking place. Soldiers and sailors were happily dancing on the bridge of the boat, using part of the food and drink bought at Notre Sagesse to continue fueling the feast. One could see Silas, having taken perhaps a few more shots than he could handle, engaging in a surprisingly graceful dance, to the delight of a nearby Niles, who was quite happy about the little trick he pulled on the silver-haired knight to convince him to drink a few more glasses.

Less gracefully, one could see Arthur, who was drunkenly telling tales of his stories to some hapless soldiers, none of which dared to mention to Arthur that thus far, he mostly drank water. Effie was nearby. Unlike Arthur or Silas, she was still sober, though it didn't stop her from doing several push-ups with a barrel of alcohol on her back. While impressed initially, the soldiers were now longing for her to let go so that they could serve themselves on the barrel, since she was quite defensive of her "training weight".

Corrin himself had joined the party, engaging in a talk with Azura. They were both standing in their own little corner, though Corrin was happy to talk to whoever came near him. Azura, however, was about as laconic as one could be whenever someone decided to talk to her, with the exception of Camilla, who sometimes roamed the bridge to ensure that no one accidentally went overboard, literally or figuratively. Surprisingly though, the princess didn't join the festivity, though she did sometimes take a drink or two before heading back to her cabin.

Deeper in the boat, Kaze was under surveillance by Nyx, who had declined to join the party to focus on the ninja. The chained shinobi was casually sitting down at the end of his cell, under the watchful gaze of the "young" sorceress. Witnesses said that she never blinked once during the night. To assist her, there was a shift, with a new soldier taking the place of the old one (and grumbling while doing so). Sometimes, the shift included more powerful member of the "army", like Selena.

But thankfully for Selena, Beruka had decided to cover that shift for her or all future soldiers, having no interest in partying. The two women spent the entire party looking over at Kaze before Nyx eventually decided to wave her hand, having noticed that the sounds died down up above, a sign that the festivities were over. Thus, she chose to wave her hand at Beruka, as if shooing her away.

"I'll look over the ninja. Sleep, young one."

"I can operate at peak efficiency even with only four hours worth of sleep. Worry not about me, hex-caster."

"And I can "operate at peak efficiency" regardless of sleep. You may need your full strength for tomorrow."

Beruka would've argued, but she was somewhat receptive to sleep tonight. After her conversation with Corrin, that unusual feeling was still present within her, and she wished to fend it off by sleeping. Perhaps Nezier, the Nohrian spirit of wisdom, would gift her with hindsight during the night? The young woman never truly believed in spirits or gods (those were "crutches" for humans to fall back on in hard times) but the sight of the Sage, who was invulnerable to all Earthly weapons and bestowed with unique powers, had somehow shaken that faith.

To the point where she actually lost her temper somehow, something that she would never ever do otherwise.

The blue-haired assassin shook her head and left the room, easily avoiding the still-awake drunken soldiers who were seeking their bed or the unconscious drunken soldiers who decided that the wooden floor would suffice. Reaching her room, she opened her door, entered the room, closed it and then locked it.

Most would sleep in pajamas and the likes but Beruka simply took off her armor, revealing a purple long-sleeved outfit with a small collar underneath. Then, she checked her room for any hidden enemies, re-checked again and grabbed an axe before getting into bed, putting her weapon-holding hand through a small slip on the left. She also carefully took off her bandana and left it on the small table next to her bed.

The assassin tended to be more thorough with her sleeping room, often crafting a dummy to put on her bed and sleeping hidden elsewhere in the room, but she opted to merely carry an axe with her as she slept, to swing at whoever would attempt to creep up on her.

Sleep came over to her surprisingly easily though, and after two minutes of brief contemplation over the events of the day, Beruka allowed herself to drift into the ether.

…

Beruka's awakening was quick and efficient, and before five minutes, she was up on her feet without any yearning to go back to bed. Looking at her window revealed that it was early in the morning, so she probably wouldn't get too many visits. Obviously, this was ideal for the young weapon-enthusiast, who sat down and gathered her many weapons in front of her.

Beruka leaned towards her table to grab a whetstone and a small bottle next to it, putting a liquid of a sort on it. Then, she grabbed a fairly large knife, and started sharpening it. After she was done, she moved on to another weapon. Taking proper care of her weapons was one of the few hobbies that Beruka had, though even then, she figured out that it may not be fit to call it an hobby. After all, an assassin needed sharp weapons.

But she still quite "enjoyed" it. She didn't see the sharpening of her weapons as a mere chore to perform. Why, perhaps she even found some fun in it, even if this thought was worryingly reminiscent of something that another blue-haired retainer, that Beruka rather detested, would say.

Once she was done, Beruka carefully put her tools away (taking about a minute to check if everything was right) and equipped her headband, before heading out of her room to head down the ship, at the place where the steads in the army were held. Luckily enough, the numbers of troops on foot was overwhelmingly superior to the numbers of warriors on mount, meaning that only a few horses (including Jagen), Sirius and Camilla's own wyvern were down there.

The assassin stepped into the hay-covered room, ignoring the smell, and simply grabbed a bucket with some meat on it, advancing toward Sirius's stable. It was bigger than any others, to accommodate for his size, and he was currently walking in circles within it, anxiously awaiting his meal. He seemed impatient, which was odd : Beruka usually arrived right as he was waking up. Then again, he had been fighting recently, so perhaps the adrenaline was still present somewhere.

Beruka, after all, liked for her contracts to be quick, so Sirius was used to short bouts of fighting and long flights. The wyvern's owner briefly stared at it and, instead of just dumping the meat at his feet, decided to put on a black glove before grabbing a piece of meat.

"Sirius. Catch." She said, in her usual monotone, before tossing the food at him. The wyvern moved his jaw with enough speed to temporarily escape the human eye, snatching the meat out of the air and beginning to feast on it, his razor-sharp teeth easily tearing his meal apart. Then, the beast attempted to eat whatever remained, and raised its head, anxiously awaiting the next throw.

He was seemingly enjoying the impromptu tossing. Beruka, as a result, chose to do it again, waging the piece of meat before tossing it. Once more, he devoured it whole almost gracefully, making enough noises to actually unnerve the nearby horses. From what she's seen, they were right to be afraid.

Beruka prepared her third throw, allowing the smallest smirk to appear on her face, but then she heard a bunch of ruckus behind her, causing her to turn around in annoyance, throwing the meat over her shoulder casually and nodding briefly upon hearing Sirius happily devour his third meal. Selena arrived immediately afterwards, with her hair loose. Going by the bags under her eyes and the way she slammed her hands against her ears to try and protect herself from the sound, her own sleep was far less peaceful than Beruka's.

"Gah, what's that noi… Beruka!" She said, massaging her own forehead. "Camilla told me to fetch you. There's something going on right now."

"Of what nature?"

"I don't know!" Said Selena. "She'd rather keep it secret for now, to avoid a panic. Look, I'm tired and there's a whole bunch of animals yelling next to me, and Camilla's worried, and I'm… really unable to deal with all of this right now. Please, just get up here and, I don't know, do your thing… no not that thing, ragh, you know!"

"Fine. But _pleas_e, feed Sirius while I'm busy." Said Beruka, almost slamming the bucket full of meat in Selena's hands. "If you can, in that state of yours."

"'Course I can, hangover or not!" complained Selena, as Beruka walked past her. "It's Gerome all over…"

Beruka turned around silently, raising a singular eyebrow.

"It's just an in-joke. Just go before Camilla feed us to her wyvern."

Beruka simply left and headed upstairs. It didn't take her much time to notice that Camilla was indeed coming her way. And while she kept calm, exhibiting her usual calm smile, her stance, heavy manner of walking and cramped body language told Beruka everything she needed to know. Was Kaze already acting up? Had something happened to Corrin? Only the latter could so easily upset her. Not that the soldiers nearby noticed, simply saluting the princess.

Beruka wordlessly followed her, putting her hands behind her back and approaching Elise's cabin. Briefly, the idea that Kaze or a ninja snuck in and murdered the princess in her sleep appeared in her mind, and for the smallest of second, she felt… sadness for both her and Corrin? But she quickly shook it off and entered the room, being surprised when Camilla immediately closed the door behind her.

The room itself had been lightly decorated for Elise's sake, but cabin decoration was the least of Beruka's worries. Her attention was entirely focused on the fact that a handful of people were gathered near Elise, who was lying on her bed, weakly holding unto the hands of both Effie and Corrin, at either side of the bed. Arthur was standing next to Effie. They were both disheveled and unusually silent, gently whispering comforting words to Elise.

Corrin wasn't even clad in his regular armor, merely wearing black pants and a short sleeveless shirt. He was entirely focused on Elise, to the point where he didn't even acknowledge Beruka. Next to him was Azura, her hand placed on Elise's forehead. Sometimes, she switched places with Felicia, who used her healing staff on the young royal to try and lessen the pain. It seemed to be a fruitless endeavor.

Healing magic as developed by Nohr was simple in its practice. It healed wounds quickly, so that the soldiers could quickly return to the battlefield. For that purpose, they were effective in repelling wounds (and some said that the more powerful ones could regrow limbs) but more specialized ones were required to cure sicknesses, and even then, Beruka guessed that a particularly virulent one choose to strike Elise.

Nyx seemed to be trying to get at the bottom of the mystery. Unlike everyone else in the room, she was standing at the back, reading several floating hexes around her. Like Azura, she wasn't dressed any differently and didn't seem tired at all. Though she was already more worried than she ever was during battles, which perhaps didn't bode well for the younger girl. Few things could so easily rattle an immortal after all.

"Beruka." Said Camilla, her usually happy voice reduced into a almost-threatening whisper. "Be a dear and check for poison, will you?"

The wyvern-rider would ask Camilla what she meant, if only for the sake of a concise explanation, but she knew the princess well enough to understand her order. She suspected an intervention from Kaze, perhaps thinking that the ninja was responsible. Beruka would argue that there are few things that he could've done in his state, but the princess certainly wasn't in an argumentative mood. The young woman calmly headed out to replace Felicia instead, crouching next to Elise.

Her condition was… bad. Her skin was pale to the point where she could see a few veins peering through, her breathing was ragged and quick, almost desperate, her eyes were bloodshot, and her grasp was weak and trembling. While the princess wasn't as strong as her siblings, she still has the blood of dragons, and the physical superiority that came with it. For her hands to be so weak, the condition had to be severe.

It wasn't poisoning. Beruka knew it. Only few venoms could ever rival or surpass the disease that was affecting Elise.

"Beruka… that's your name right?" She asked, still smiling. "Do you have something… against the pain? It hurts…"

The assassin stared back at Elise but grimly shook her head at Camilla. Normally, identifying poisoning would take more times, but Beruka would need to waste about an hour checking for spots where she could've been poisoned. And wasting even a second would be a grave mistake.

Only Elise's royal blood protected her from death, but her young age made her more vulnerable to it. She knew of what the locals of Notre Sagesse called the "Feu Leste". A disease carried by mosquitoes that was unnoticeable at first, but then quickly took over the host, quickly killing them. More soldiers in the army could be infected as they spoke, though the disease was less lethal on adults.

"You will survive it." Said Beruka, wanting to be reassuring. After getting up, the assassin wished to quickly withdraw, but Camilla simply pulled her backward and almost shoved Felicia back into the original spot, dragging her retainer into the corner. This worried Elise, but a bout of pain prevented her from focusing on the conversation. It also prevented her from seeing Camilla nearly shove her usually-coddled retainer into a wall or, going by her current mood, _through _the wall.

"What happened?" She whispered.

"It's the Feu Leste."

Azura, who had been left in her corner, stood behind Camilla. This caused a chain reaction of a sort, with Corrin and Nyx soon joining the three women, speaking in hushed voices.

"It's a disease from Notre Sagesse, carried by mosquitoes. It is particularly lethal on… young people, unfortunately."

"What's the cure?" Said Corrin, hopeful to find one now that the culprit was identified. His hopeful smile (and Camilla's) was squashed quickly though, when both Azura, Nyx and Beruka answered by simply looking down.

"It's found in Hoshido." Said Beruka. "A plant made there at least. They used to send it to Notre Sagesse but they decided to withhold it some years ago. From their point of view, the Hoshidians there lost their "right" when they chose to continue living with Nohrians."

"That's…" Began Corrin, though he perhaps couldn't find a strong-enough word to finish the sentence.

"The disease isn't very contagious, and it deal with the host quickly. Beside, the mosquitoes that can infect someone with it are found in the mountains or forests. It seems that Elise was unlucky…" Added Nyx.

"… Are you telling me that the cure can be found at Hoshido?" Said Camilla, with a wrathful edge to her voice. Her eyes were both wide open and Beruka felt that the slightest movement could cripple whoever was unfortunate enough to stand next to her… which meant her.

"No." Said Azura. "The plant that can produce a cure against it can be found in Nohr. At Macarath…"

"Mac-"

Beruka placed her hand on Corrin's mouth, and was surprised when he answered by actually pushing it away, though he quickly came to his senses before he could finish his phrase. Still, he and Camilla were more worried than ever, and so were the eaves-dropping retainers.

"Macarath is where a lot of serums and healing staves are produced. If there's a disease, then there's the means to cure it somewhere within it. The castle very likely has the _Kochô _flower needed to make a cure."

"Yes, and said castle is probably being leveled to the very last brick." Added Beruka.

"Perhaps not. Camilla, you said that Macarath fell. Have you received any new letter? What is happening to the castle?"

"The city fell, but the Palace was built to last… unfortunately, from what I've heard, the fight against Ryoma…"

…

The palace was ablaze with battles. Hoshidian blades clashed against Nohrian armor. Dark mages and diviners fought from afar, their spells colliding with enough power to vaporize whoever was unlucky enough to stand between them. Flames were lit everywhere, illuminating the desperate struggle between the defenders and the endless swarm of attackers.

For every Hoshidian cut down, about ten more would emerge. They never hesitated to leap over the corpses of their comrades, and for every death inflicted by the Nohrians, the rage of Hoshido grew forth and caused them to attack even harder. Soon, it was a matter of vainly attempting to trap them in a bottleneck and hurl everything they had available at the endless horde.

But even that strategy didn't work, if only because of the presence of a particular warrior of the East.

After days of fighting, the thunder blared over Macarath, and Ryoma joined the fight.

Entire divisions were cut down. Men who trained and fought for the entirety of their lives were hopelessly outmatched, being cut down before they could even react. Mighty bolts of thunder fell down from the sky to smite entire groups of soldiers, instantly killing them all. His blade, alimented by lightning itself, cut through the thickest armor like butter.

He was so overwhelmingly fast that soldiers couldn't even tell if a thunderbolt or the prince himself was attacking them. So overwhelmingly strong that any defense put forth was cut down in a single swing. So skilled that any matter of trap was doomed to fail, even without using his fantastic speed and power. He was like a raging demon sent to punish Nohrians.

The difference in power was so much that the remaining defenders are outright begging for help, barely holding on unto what's left of their defensive positions within the castle. The prince's power was such that he had Nohrians begging for help, that's how dire the situation was.

And he obviously wouldn't stop at Macarath. His eyes were set on Nohr…

…

"… It could go better." Understated Camilla.

"So we need to go through a city that the enemy has conquered, to reach a palace that's also controlled by them by now, to get to a specific plant to make a cure for Elise… how much time do we have at least?"

"The sun has risen." Said Nyx. "But it will go down, and during the night, the illness will grow stronger. If nothing is done, at midnight…"

"I get it." Said Camilla, impatiently. "We've got the rest of the day to finish the journey to the continent and make our way to Macarath. Let's set out."

"Wait, child." Said Nyx. "We cannot cross such a distance within such a short time-span. And even if we could, breaking through the Hoshidian defense lines will certainly take time.

Camilla glared over to Nyx and Beruka noticed that her hand was approaching the pommel of her axe. She knew the extent of Camilla's affection for her siblings, but she was still surprised at her anger. How could someone get so angered over someone else?

"I… there might be a way to get there in time." Said Corrin. "It's going to be a bit odd to listen to but… maybe Beruka and Camilla's wyverns could fly all the way to Macarath? It'd take some hours of course, but we'll be there before nightfall. They'll carry the rest of the army on…"

"Corrin?" Said Azura.

"There's a…. an object that we have. You know, that crystal ball? It's actually, erm, a sort of door towards an alternate micro… world where we can reside?"

Beruka and Camilla starred flatly at Corrin, but somewhere, they knew that he wasn't joking. He was not a prankster after all, and the idea that he'd make a joke in the midst of this tense situation would certainly be out-of-character. Still, the idea was odd enough to give them both pause.

"You have access to a Deeprealm." Said Nyx. "Fascinating. I have been searching for these before you were even a glint in the eyes of your parents."

"Y-yeah… well. We could get the army in there, take the crystal ball all the way to Macarath and… I guess if… when things go sour, we could release the army out of it. I could ask Ryoma to cure Elise but…"

"You will not be putting my sister's life in the hands of a single Hoshidian." Said Camilla, outright glaring at Corrin. Her expression did soften a little though. "Hm, apologies… but my dear, what about the part where we access the castle? I doubt that the Hoshidians will simply let you in through the city."

"I can make my way through the Hoshidians." Promised Corrin, his voice shaking a little. "I've got a way to do it, don't worry. Beruka could use the chaos that I'll create to sneak in the castle, and release part of the army. They'll quietly make their way to the vault and will get the plant."

"If you kickstart chaos, the castle will be in high alert, it would be hard to sneak in."

"I know." Said Corrin. "But sneaking in through the city would be perilous and I'll… distract the rest of the Hoshidian army, don't worry."

"I'll accompany you for that." Said Camilla, in a tone that implied that there shall be no refusal. "I'll warn the army. We'll head out as soon as we can. No discussion."

Camilla left the room, and Nyx briefly stared at Corrin, nodding solemnly before leaving. Beruka, Azura and Corrin were left along with the three retainers and Elise, who had been quietly listening in on the conversation.

"… You intend to take on an entire army, Corrin?" Asked Beruka, confused. "Why?"

"I won't let Elise die." Said Corrin, and while there was conflict on his face, there was an assertion in his voice that surprised her a little. "I know that there's an army heading for Macarath but I… I know what I'll be doing."

"… I find that odd. You would take on such an overwhelming threat by yourself just to save a single person?"

"Yes." Said Corrin. "But while I do lead you into battles, I… I would do that for everyone here if they were in Elise's place. For Arthur, for Odin, for Selena, for Marc, for… you."

Beruka simply stood still, not giving an answer. After a while, she simply looked down at the floor, noticing that he even brought up the name of some common soldier.

"… I see."

The blue-haired assassin kept standing on her spot, unable and unwilling to say anything for now. When Azura hurriedly brought Corrin out of the room, whispering something rapidly, the assassin didn't even bother following them. Instead, she exited the room as well and settled out for her room. She'd need her weapons to go to war after all.

But retrieving her precious weapons and going to Sirius to equip him for such a long-ranged flight couldn't distract her from that odd feeling that she felt when Corrin confidently said his line. Yes, perhaps she could just dismiss it as being a mere boast meant to get her confident, but… somewhere, Beruka felt that there was some kind of truth to his words, and that made her feel _something _for a while.

Though whatever it was, she had to look away from it for now. They were going to Macarath after all, and that was…

…

"Verryyyyy risky." Concluded Selena.

"For once, I agree." Said Niles. "You know, there are way less complicated ways to kill oneself."

"I know that it's risky, but believe me. We know what we're doing." Said Corrin. "And we were going to free Macarath to begin with, right?"

Niles shrugged. "I was hoping we'd do that with an army instead of entering a weird ball and trusting that nothing bad will happen to you three but… you do you."

The army was gathered at the bridge. In front of them stood the three royals : Azura, Camilla and Corrin.

"I know that this is pretty hard to believe, but we have a plan. I will get their attention, and this will allow you to sneak in and get Elise the help she needs… I… I know that it's perhaps selfish to throw you all into danger like that, and that this is certainly a most hasty plan however. For that, I apologize."

The soldiers stared at Corrin, surprised by his apology. Most commanders would've told them to just shut up and follow the plan by now after all, but at least Corrin was handing out an apology and at least acknowledging his flaw. However, while most were appreciative, some simply shrugged, unimpressed with a commander that needed to apologize. And beside, it's not like the soldiers had a choice anyway. They couldn't let a princess die after all.

Nyx held up the crystal ball before setting it on the ground.

"It'll draw you in if you walk at it. To leave, you'll need to wait for someone else to pull you out, so be ready to fight. There are buildings in the deeprealm for you to inhabit while waiting but in about… 8 hours, you will have to fight. Be ready."

A single archer stepped up and promptly got himself absorbed, briefly yelping in surprise. The other soldiers weren't really dignified in their exclamation either though.

Most of the army accepted, unwilling to really be the one to slow things down. Elise, who was carried by Effie, was put in the death realm, so that the army's healers could take care of her just in case. The method was surprisingly fast, and by about half an hour worth of time, only Niles, Nyx, Arthur, Effie and a chained Kaze were left to join the realm.

"You intend to go at Macarath quickly, milord?"

"Yes." Said Corrin. "Tell me, what was your plan for it? So that I know what I'll have to face beyond… him."

Kaze briefly looked around.

"The plan was to take over Nohr's "attic" and cut off access to their medicine and healing tools. Both Ryoma and Hinoka would access the Sage's power beforehand before going there to help in taking it over. They'll then hold the medicine and inhabitants hostage to prevent the mightier Nohrian army from attacking until the three royals are together. Some more plans were at hand to distract Nohr's own royals, I'll tell you about them when we're done. We don't have much time after all, and my rambling is probably costing you a lot of it."

"So, is Hinoka…"

"No, you left too few Hoshidians to matter. But the army that we're about to face is most mighty. Beside Ryoma, his two retainers are present. Kagero and… Saizo. There will be a lot of soldiers here but if I'm correct, those numbers won't matter to you."

"What do you mean?" Said Beruka.

Kaze looked ready to answer but then shook his head.

"You'll know."

Then, he walked to Corrin"s "castle" as well. This left Arthur and Effie, both unusually silent. Before walking in though, they grabbed Corrin's hands, solemnly.

"Please, Lord Corrin. Save Lady Elise." Spoke Arthur.

"I will." Said Corrin. "I'll do everything I can to save her."

Both retainers wished to say more, but they opted to simply get in quicker for the sake of time. This left Nyx, who nodded.

"You'll only get the occasion to "pull" us one at a time, even quickly. Be careful of the timing when you summon us, child."

Then, she entered as well, leaving only Niles.

"If we make it through this, I'm giving you a lot of money. Seriously."

And, with that, he entered as well. Beruka grabbed the sphere and tied it to her back, using several layers of rope to hold it in place firmly. The confused sailors stood at the side, confused.

"We're huh… two hours away from the coast but it seems that you're leaving quicker than that, so heh…"

"Welcome for your help, Captain." Said Camilla, hurriedly. "We'll recommend you to the authorities for your work, goodbye."

He shrugged, and he and the rest of the confused sailors waited as Camilla got on her wyvern. Beruka and Corrin both got on Sirius and promptly took flight, the wyverns soon flying at high speed towards the coast.

The voyage was relatively uneventful, though the usual Nohrian weather was promptly noticed. Looking down, Corrin spotted Port Dia below, still damaged from the fight with Takumi, but his attention was elsewhere.

"We'll land near Macarath. I'll walk up to the city and I'll do my distraction. You'll sneak in while Camilla will accompany me."

"Fair." Noted Beruka, who mostly focused on the flight in front of her, no matter what happened. The cold wind of Nohr howled in her face, the thunder struck near her, and she could spot a few destroyed towns as the group got closer and closer to Macarath, but she remained steadfast. And Sirius's determination matched his owner's. He remained thoroughly unintimidated by whatever nature seemed to be throwing at them, roaring louder than the thunder itself and fiercely flying in defiance of the efforts that Ouros, the Nohrian spirit of the wind, was seemingly taking to ensure that they wouldn't make it through.

The crystal ball was fastened on her back and, for the sake of her group, she put on the safety gear. Corrin, who was behind her, looked pensive, not really speaking up that much and mostly staring ahead at the column of smoke in the horizon. It grew closer and closer with every hour, and soon, Macarath was in sight.

"Where's the Nohrian army?" asked Corrin, looking down.

"I don't know." Said Beruka. "We were told they were heading for Macarath, but perhaps something delayed them. Hoshido's attack is widespread after all…"

If Corrin was right about his ability to open a path, then the army would've been useful, but it seemed that they were on their own for now. After a while of flying furthermore, they finally had Macarath in view.

Its walls, clad in black, uniquely had large Hoshidian flags draped over them, as a sign of victory of some sort. Behind the walls laid the city itself. It seemingly took little abuse compared to the castle, or at least, they were too far away to spot the damage. Still, the houses within it were alight, and while some plumes of smokes coming out of it were worrying, it didn't seems that the Hoshidians turned it to ruins to begin with.

Beruka heard Corrin sighs behind her, though there was a tint of sadness to it instead of the pure relief she expected.

Up above, more black walls surrounded the castle, forcing visitors or battle-crazed conquerors to politely take four large stairs above it. Unlike the city, the palace had taken quite the beating : scorches marks were present all over it, at least three of the staircases were gone (to ensure, Beruka thought, that the Nohrian army would be forced to take this path to the castle, making it easier to bottleneck them), a fire was currently raging on its massive roof, producing the massive plume of smoke seen earlier, and even from this spot, parts of it looked cracked.

The building itself was all white and quite massive, with four towers on each corner. At its center, there was a court, where a garden could be found. The rest of the building had a lot of white hallways, full of intricate rooms decorated with paintings and shelves full of ancient books. One could access its "depths", themselves full of remedies, healing staves and cures, via the numerous secret passages created by Nohrians or via some stairs at the more conventional level.

It had a shape similar to a cube from afar, and its massive walls were reputed to be impossible to bust through. Its massive golden doors, however, were outright ruined, having been blasted open by a squad of diviners.

It was foolish to simply allow a fire so massive (the palace's roof was perhaps the size of a city block, and the fire was covering a hefty part of it) to burn within one's fortress, but Hoshido was well known for its dramatic flair mid-battle. Ryoma wanted to show to Nohr, and whatever nation was spectating, that Hoshido could strike Nohr where it was at its strongest, and a massive fire over a well-known Nohrian building was a good way to demonstrate that.

That said, the clouds up above were brewing. Perhaps they relied on the coming storm to wipe it away.

"… Uselessly flashy." Said Beruka, before heading downward, towards a nearby forest of dead trees. Camilla followed suit, stepping off her wyvern. Both it and Sirius were panting, but Sirius was clawing at a nearby dead tree while doing so, as if to make it know to its owner that it intended to continue the flight.

"We're far enough not to be seen. With the Nohrian army coming, they're probably keeping all the soldiers inside." Said Beruka.

"How long did it take us to fly all the way over?"

"… I calculate about 12 hours, we may not have that much time left." Answered Camilla.

"Alright… let's not panic. I'll make my way through the castle and I'll open up a passage for you. Where should I go?"

"Hm… the South-East section has a small tunnel that lead to the fort. Once I'm close enough, I'll drop by from Sirius and I'll enter it."

"It'll probably be trapped in some way."

"Then so be it. The entire palace is dangerous after all. I'll find my way through it."

"And I'll accompany you to confront Ryoma, Corrin. Together, the distraction will be greater, and I don't intend to leave you alone to face this brute."

"Alright, but you may need to… erm, wait a little. Just fly and track me. Once I'm at the castle, it'll be safe to drop by."

Corrin turned around and began running towards the city, running across the bare field surrounding it. Both Beruka and Camilla observed him. And, for a slight moment, Beruka came to believe that perhaps he had tricked them both, and was running to warn Hoshidians about their presence. That way, he'd have a whole bunch of elites Nohrians and two princesses, with one ill, to offer to his "true country".

The blue-haired assassin frowned. Why did it take so long for these thoughts to appear? She was much more cautious than that after all.

But before she could move on to other theories, alas, a great roar echoed from the plain, and from the sky, a great amount of what appeared to be ethereal water fell down over a certain spot in the fields. Briefly, she could see that it was going down for Corrin, who was almost a dot at this point because of the distance, but he quickly disappeared, engulfed by the oversized raindrop. Oddly though, there was no sound of impact : the water just fell and splashed silently.

Afterwards, the miniature lake born out of the impact coalesced around Corrin to envelop him. The water sphere surrounding him spun around, faster and faster, and "blew up", sending the liquid everywhere, though it vanished into a series of blue and green sparks before it could reach the ground.

And in place of Corrin stood a… beast.

It was much larger and wider than the average man and had a shape similar to a deer (she could even see some massive antlers jutting out of its head). Its body was similar in color to that grey armor that he wore often, and she could see wings. Instead of looking like the noble winged lizards of old Nohrian lore, or the majestic colossal snake-like creatures of Hoshido, it was more akin to an odd cross before the former kind of dragon and a deer.

Where was he hiding that? Beruka, yet again, was stunned. Where was that form at Port Dia? How could he transform?

"On your wyvern now!"

Beruka, not one to get easily stunned, still took her time thinking about Corrin before climbing upon Sirius to take flight. From above, she could see the "dragon" roar and begin to charge towards the massive black door leading to the city. Beruka winced, expecting him to meet his match, but the dragon instead straight up rammed the doors open, hitting them with enough force to almost send them flying and surprising the Hoshidians deployed behind it, most of which were sent flying by the mad charge.

Corrin continued to run through the city. Even in his beast-like state, he was trying to avoid ramming through buildings even when he easily could burst through them at this point. He wasn't so merciful with the enemy soldiers though, most of which were charged into and sent flying or trampled at his feet. Their overwhelming numbers or weapons didn't help them one bit even when the surprise was gone, for their mightiest arrows, fired from wooden machines that they had time to set-up after the conquest, simply bounced off his armored skin, with the machines themselves being easily blown apart by a flick of his tail.

Magic seemed deadlier to him, since he made efforts to dodge instead of tanking it head-on, but he made it look as effortless as ever, dodging in an outright playful way that made it seems like the diviners were aiming miles-away from him… and then swiftly cutting them down as well.

His speed was such that had it not been for the trail of smoke left behind, Beruka would've lost a track a while ago. The population of the city was busy running away in obvious fright, with buildings going down behind them (since Corrin, after all, couldn't smoothly dodge all of them while fighting an army), further distracting the Hoshidian army and preventing reinforcements from coming in, since the flows of Macarathians were slowing them down.

This made it even easier for Corrin to jump all the way over to the North-West part of the castle, needing only two leaps to do so. As a result, pretty much everyone was distracted with him, being far too focused on the mysterious beast running amok to pay attention to the two wyverns. Beruka and Camilla nodded at each other, and Beruka headed towards the hidden entrance at her corner of the castle, flying down as far as she could before jumping off Sirius to get in front of it.

Accessing it was relatively easy : All she had to do was push a section of the wall, which she hoped was the correct one. Luckily enough, said section of the wall pushed itself backward, leading to a dark hallway large enough for her to crawl under even with the crystal ball at her back. No guards noticed her, since they were running towards the place where Corrin was currently raising hell, to put it politely.

Beruka quickly crawled into the castle and checked her surroundings before closing the hidden passage. Thankfully, there were no ninjas around, or even a common grunt. And the smell of corpses could not be felt… yet.

The assassin took the time to think of the prince, wondering how he was going to handle his fight against Ryoma (and how easy it would be in this form) before crouching down.

It was time for some Nohrian soldiers to earn their gold coins.

…

In contrast with his fairly drawn out transformation from earlier, the way Corrin dropped out of his draconic form was almost easy. Once he cleared out the nearest guards, Corrin simply knelt, shone briefly, and here he was, back to his human form, sword in hand.

Getting up, he briefly felt dizzy and vulnerable, and felt his dragonstone's calling. He longed to just reactivate his draconic form and quickly shed away his weak human body to re-become the definition of might itself and be safe from Hoshidians blades and arrows again. But, looking back at the trail of destruction left behind, he found himself fighting those urges, unwilling to succumb to it again.

Looking back at the trail of destruction also allowed him to see some archers headed his way, prompting him to raise Yato to try and defend himself from their arrows. However, before they could begin to do so, a magical circle appeared in the sky, and a ball of lightning crashed into the little group, engulfing them in an electrical explosion and prompting Corrin to cover his eye.

Then, Camilla dropped next to him, her wyvern flying away with Sirius. In spite of the distance and the impact (enough to crack the ground at her feet), Camilla promptly got going, grabbing her adoptive brother's wrist and running with him towards Macarath's blasted open doors.

"Dear, your dragon form could come in handy!"

"I can't use it too much, especially with you so close!" He answered, before being cut off by the sound of thunder above right as they entered the palace.

The once-majestic halls were still lit… allowing the numerous splashes of blood, broken weapons and bloody helmets to be seen, the Hoshidians being at least polite enough to discard the fallen bodies of the enemy or their own. The various portraits and statues present all over the halls had been torn down or vandalized, either in the fighting or when because some Hoshidians felt like rubbing salts in the wounds.

The doors leading to the rooms within the castle were busted open, and Corrin could glimpse that the shelves inside had been thrown down. He would investigate more if he could, but they were deep in enemy territory, and while he very much cared about precious old texts being torn down, he had to put his own self-interest first.

As he ran deeper and deep inside though, he noticed that the Hoshidians weren't shooting arrows or spells. They were certainly chasing, but it appeared that they were interested in manipulating their paths, blocking certain halls via sheer numbers and forcing them to choose different roads as a result. Corrin couldn't quite guess what they were doing at first, but after a little while, he realized where they were being lead.

The main garden of Macarath, even after being part of a massive battle, looked as beautiful as in the books, even when it was illuminated by the fire that was raging above it, or had some very noticeable bloodstains over it. Some of the pillars and structures within the garden were damaged as well, though they remained standing for now. Some pots had been carefully scattered near various hall exits, while others were put at key spots, near Hoshidian soldiers.

Speaking of those, they were all around the garden. After he was done running, Corrin could see that soldiers were everywhere around the room, or the upper levels, or behind them, as if most of the Hoshidian army had been teleported in the room. Two ninjas were standing within the garden itself though, and while he recognized the red-haired man, he failed to properly identify the woman next to him, with a bang covering the left side of her face.

The woman merely looked forlorn, but the man was _glaring_ at him, even opening his blind eye just to glare daggers at the young man. His gaze was more intense than the rest of the armies, most of which were putting on their best mean faces. A few looked uncertain though, but Corrin blamed it on his draconic rampage.

In spite of the overwhelming difference in numbers, too large for even those two to overcome, the Hoshidians didn't make a move, waiting for a shape up above in the roof to make its move. Corrin's head rose, and time briefly froze around him.

Ryoma stood tall, his sword sheathed in its scabbard, his gaze hidden by the shadow of his headgear. The prince, not allowing the slightest expression to appear on his face, simply leapt, casually nailing his landing in the middle of the garden, between the two royals and his retainers. Then, without allowing the faintest whisper to emanate out of him, he grabbed Raijinto and swung it out of its scabbard, making a most superb motion out of the rather casual art of pulling out a sword. And, right as the electric blade tore through the air, a most monstrous thunderbolt struck in the distance, heralding a most catastrophic storm up above. Perhaps Mother Nature decided to put some more flair on his entrance, or perhaps Raijinto's power was enough to trigger storms.

Corrin was mesmerized, looking at Ryoma and putting on a brave face as the rain started to fall around them. While quiet at first, the clouds of Nohr soon began unleashing a waterfall worth of water, somewhat complicating the visibility. Ryoma was well in sight, though : Sparks were triggered all over his sword as a result of the contact between the rain and the blade, even if it didn't affect him in any other way.

"You've grown bolder, Kamui." He started, his deep voice staying measured. "I see that your previous victories have made you confident."

"Ryoma." Answered the young prince. "I've come here to free this city from Hoshido. Please, withdraw your troops and leave. Macarath has suffered enough."

Camilla stood next to Corrin, observing the room around her, and perhaps judging what to do in case a fight break out.

"As…. optimistic as you are, not even you would seriously believe that I'd back down." Said the wielder of Raijinto. "Macarath is an important city. Taking it over will be crucial for the conquest of Nohr, and with you two, I'll have at least one Nohrian royal as hostage."

Before either could ask what he meant about "at least", Ryoma quickly made himself clear by holding his right hand forward, the exact same way he did back at the Hoshidian fields. Corrin struggled not to wince in reminiscence. Having to abandon his blood family so soon after the tragedy at the town square would forever be a mark of shame for him, and he knew just how much it would've hurt them even without it. And he knew that Hoshidians, in spite of their flaws, were both brave and poetic.

In fact, they were closer to Nohrians than they'd like to admit.

"Join me, Kamui. I have heard of your exploits at the Ice Tribe and how you spared Takumi's army after defeating him." Offered Ryoma, his voice in high spirits. "Showing mercy prove that you're not yet a Nohrian! Come! Assume your birthright! Cease this pointless conquest! Embrace the legacy of Queen Mikoto and conquer Nohr with us! Surely you've realized that Garon and his lapdogs are evil by now! Let us take down Nohr together! As a united family!"

"Ryoma! I've killed too many Hoshidians, how could I return home when I've caused so many deaths!"

The red prince faltered a little, and his desperation was clear in his voice as he began his next line.

"Hoshido is forgiving, Kamui. Takumi will come around, Hinoka and Sakura will forgive you, and so will everyone else!"

Briefly, very briefly, Corrin thought of doing that. They'd spare Camilla and would find and spare Beruka as well before healing Elise, and… and together, they'd end Garon's obvious reign of terror, they…

No. Of course not. It was far too late. The people of Nohr would die to the Hoshidian troops, he'd backstab friends, family and allies once more and he'd go down in history as a turncoat prince who switched side when it was convenient. The very idea that he considered it, even for the span of a second, for as much time as it took for a raindrop to fall, actually sickened him.

"No… Ryoma, no. The people of Nohr are suffering, and war on their territory will destroy them. We need to share resources, and…"

"And the people who murdered your mother, the people who sent, years after years, soulless monstrosities to our country, the people who cursed their own land to spit Qliphoth, will profit from that Kamui! They only care about themselves! You'd sacrifice the people of your homeland for the sake of the inhabitants of that… wasteland?! Tell me!"

And Corrin only answered with a telling silence.

The Hoshidians, who quietly stood by for now, immediately prepared to draw their weapon. Ryoma, who had been holding his pose for quite a while now, slowly lowered his hand and shook his head.

"… Such a lack of conviction." Said Ryoma. "Nohr has twisted your head with their lies it seems. I'll have no choice but to take action and drag you back screaming into Hoshido."

He began to hold his familiar pose, gripping the handle of Raijinto with both hands and leaning back slightly to shift weight unto his left foot, carefully raising his sword horizontally. To Corrin's horror, the rest of the army started to prepare themselves as well. Fortunately for him though, he had an idea, which he executed before a defiant Camilla managed to strike.

"Ryoma of Hoshido, I challenge you to a duel!"

The prince's eyes widened, and, in the howling of the storm, not everyone heard it. Fortunately, Ryoma interrupt any action by quickly raising his sword, sending lightning down from the sky to interrupt the army before they could prepare themselves to attack.

"… A duel?"

"Yes. One-on-one, you on me, here and now!" Said Corrin, as he began taking steps forward, stylishly drawing Yato out of its sheath. "Should I lose, you will take me back to Hoshido, and I'll… I'll help you and the others."

"Corrin!" He heard behind him. He simply turned around and smiled reassuringly.

"… But, should I win, you will withdraw entirely from Macarath at once, with your entire army, and return to Hoshido!"

The closest soldiers yelled in surprise and outrage, but Ryoma reacted quietly, slightly tilting his head to the right.

"… You would make such a daring challenge? And exploit our traditions? Hm…"

The long-haired man waited briefly, and then swung his sword three times, neatly cutting the raindrops around him.

"Very well! I accept your challenge! I, Ryoma, High-Prince of Hoshido, accept Kamui's duel! Should one of us all fall, than the win condition will be applied! Let no third party interfere, or the conditions will be made null!"

"Corrin! No! Let me fight him! He's nearly as strong as Xander!" Yelled the princess, with despair in her voice. "Please!"

"Enough!" Retorted Ryoma. "Duels are held between men! Do not interfere, princess of Nohr."

Camilla looked ready to go, but before she could, Corrin held his thumb up at her, winking.

"Don't worry, I'll handle myself. I've fought him before!"

The purple-haired princess didn't calm down, slowly shaking her head, but before she could make a move, the two ninjas appeared in front of her, preventing her from attacking. This allowed Corrin to step unto the grass of the garden, walking a few meters forward before stopping. Afterwards, both he and his "brother" bowed and raised their swords, adopting their battle stance.

Ryoma adopted his usual one, whereas the dragon prince held his sword in front of him, lowering it just enough to fully see his foe. His position was a defensive one, meant to parry rapid attacks. Most effective against nimble foes like Ryoma… though, instead of simply attacking, Ryoma simply shook his head.

"Kamui… did you believe that I was going all out on you?"

Ryoma didn't move an inch. He didn't shift his stance. His muscles barely even tensed. The grass at his feet barely moved.

In an instant, he was simply… a few meters behind Corrin, with no warning whatsoever, performing the end of a slash.

"I'm sorry, Kamui."

And, to Corrin's horror, a great deal of blood came sputtering out of a sudden new wound at his side, splattering at the grass below.

The thunder roared.

…

**A/N : **Corrin discover the might of Birthright!Ryoma!

This chapter is pretty long but I felt like stopping after teasing Ryoma would be lame. I've promised that you'd see chapter 12 for a while so I didn't want to just cliffhanger it… too much :p

I agree, romeoraiden (and sorry for the typo on the name, I've tried to fix it for now). Though as you can see, it is more than a famine!

I agree about the designs of the dragons, and Grima's design is intimidating indeed.

As usual folks, don't hesitate to leave reviews. Next chapters should be shorter!

How will Beruka and Corrin get out of their little problems? You'll see in… three days! I've decided to upload a chapter every third day from now on!

See ya!


	8. Vs Ryoma

The caves of Castle Macarath were, unlike the main castle, somewhat darker, and featured a more "rough" manner of architecture. Some people say that the caves are the old parts of the castle, pre-Qliphoth, that weren't destroyed by the hordes during the great invasion a century ago. After pushing the enemy nation out of Nohr, they built a new castle over the ruins.

It was part of a "push" by the current king at the time. A project to create many wonders and buildings, to both rebuild some military strength and distract the inhabitants from grasping the full consequences of the plague that was seeping in their soil. Castle Macarath was the first project to be made.

But while Beruka could probably spend time educating herself about Nohrian history, she had a job to fulfill, which is why she was in the process of quietly snapping the neck of a patrolling Samurai, quietly holding unto the body as it fell limp and dragging it into the darkness to be hidden. By her side, Niles, Selena and some "outlaws" from the army were present, stealthily dispatching foes.

Well, while Beruka was simply snapping necks, Niles and his group simply shot arrows at precise spots. This could result in a blood trail being left but to the bow-wielder's credit, he was pretty competent at disposing of the body. So much that the Hoshidians weren't noticing anything, blissfully walking unaware into their doom without so much as screaming.

"Hurgh… is this what you do for a living Beruka?" Asked Selena.

"Yes." Said Beruka. "If you want to complain, I could pull you back in, but we need numbers, and I do not trust the rest of the army to be adequate at the job. They lack the discipline or style to properly carry themselves through a stealth mission."

"Heh, to be honest, I was kind of doubting her when she pulled you out of the sphere." Quietly assured Niles, from his spot.

"Hmph." Retorted Selena. "Isn't it too… easy though? Weren't they supposed to be numerous?"

The group advanced forward stealthily, using the indicators on the walls to guide themselves. Whatever sounds they were making were thankfully snuffed out by the storm and the fighting up ahead, though Beruka didn't exactly know what was even going on up here. At the very least, he had chosen to turn off his draconic form, but why? Why would he not use such a devastating power to easily lay waste to the army?

"Yeah… I know most of these guys are busy watching whatever our dear royals are doing but that's too easy. Not that I'm complaining."

Niles stopped briefly and reached out for a nearby wooden pillar, touching it before retracting his hand.

"What are you doing?" Whispered Selena, hurriedly.

"Touching wood. It's to avoid tempting fate." He replied, smiling slightly at the wood part "That way, we won't have a million samurais converging towards us after having this discussion about just how few of them are roaming the underground."

"That's pretty weird… and you said "touching wood" super creepily."

Niles's smirk grew wider.

"Enough." Said Beruka, raising her fist and observing the halls ahead. Not a single soul was dwelling within them, and she saw no approaching shadow from her spot. This caused her to raise an eyebrow and wonder if they had been spotted already, though since time wasn't exactly in their favor, she approached one of the rooms where the medicine was stocked.

"Hope they didn't destroy whatever was inside…" Said an outlaw.

"Unlikely. They would need that medicine to heal their wounded." Answered Beruka. "Burning books is one thing, but destroying medical supplies that you can use just to spite the opposing country is foolish."

Then again, Hoshido was exactly the kind of country that would do that. They even had "honorable suicides" put in place to defend their honor should fatal harm come to it. Of course, Nohr was foolish in its own way, but it wasn't the assassin's place to judge her country.

"They could try to destroy it if like… Macarath is being retaken, right?"

"Yes. Which is why we may consider grabbing as much as we can should it come to that." Said Beruka. "But such questions are for later. Cease your talking."

That said, no new troops arrived to greet the infiltration team. And the reason soon appeared to them when they turned the corner.

Various Hoshidians warriors were left on the ground, dead, their blood seeping into the stone below, to the point where a decent sized pool had formed underneath the corpses. They were left to lay against the walls, their eyes and throats covered in vicious kunais. Selena gagged, and even Niles's composure briefly faded, but Beruka simply froze for a moment before advancing, crouching next to a body.

Keeping her grip on her axe, she carefully raised her hand and coiled her fingers around one kunai's curved grip, pulling out of the victim's neck before quietly observing it.

"… It's Mokushujin." Said Niles, in surprise. "What would they be doing here?"

"How did you figure that out?" Affirmed Selena.

"They're distinct from regular Hoshidian kunais because of the curved gripe and sharper edge. The ninjas of Mokushujin want to make themselves distinct from their… counterparts, and when you're a professional killer, you do that by having distinct weapon."

"Furthermore, this manner of killing is popular amongst them. It's a scare tactic. They kill some guards and put their bodies together to intimidate the rest. It's their mark of fabric." Continued Beruka, taking over for Niles. "They want for the Hoshidians to know that it was them who did it."

"So, there's a bunch of murderous ninjas underground and a bunch of murderous samurais on top? Come on, give us a break!"

"Hm. You won't need to fear them, murderous as they are." Indicated Selena's fellow retainer, slowly getting up. "The people of Mokushu are on our side, is that right?"

"Quite correct." Answered a voice, out of the darkness, soon making itself known by taking a few steps forward… and still not showing much of themselves. The black cloak that they had on made it extremely hard to really see them, and they had a black mask on as well. In fact, if it weren't for the singular red line on the mask, almost splitting it in two, they wouldn't be able to even identify it. "I'll ask you not to refer to them as "counterparts", though."

"Ohh, I wasn't trying to offend you." Teased Niles. "But courtesy is met with courtesy, surely you wouldn't mind taking off that mask, right? You're amongst allies."

"No." Answered the figure, curtly. "What are you doing even here, soldiers of Nohr? You should've warned us before launching an attack."

Beruka didn't know what they were talking about, and clicked her tongue disapprovingly in answer. They still had a certain time window to save Elise but Azura would perhaps need to identify the plant and make the cure first."

"It's hard to explain. We're on a mission to cure princess Elise, she's fallen ill during the return from Notre Sagesse." Explained Beruka.

"… So you seek the cure within Macarath? But how did you get here so fast? We were told you'd need days to come here."

"Look, we'll explain, but first, we need to save Elise. Let's do that, and then explain, alright?"

The Mokushujin looked at Selena and nodded slowly.

"Follow me."

…

There were only a few Mokushujins, each wearing a black cloak and having the same black mask, with only a change in the red motif on it. For now, most of them were silent, and only stood around as sentinels to make sure that no soldiers would sneak up on them. Luckily enough, it seemed that the ninjas from the east managed to sneakily take out the guards downstairs, with the Nohrians's subsequent infiltration taking out the rest. This made it easy for Azura to prepare her cure.

In spite of the alliance, Elise and Azura, the former laid on a table, where surrounded by Effie, Arthur and a few available soldiers, watching the murderous ninjas intently. Azura, however, was making her preparations easily, slowly singing to herself and ignoring or simply rebuffing the tense situation. Her song seemed to calm the others ever so slightly, but even then, Beruka's axe was still in her hand.

The group was currently present in a small room, with the door closed. Numerous closets and shelves were laid around them, full of rare plants collected by ancient Nohrians after grueling adventures or books about said rare plants. Both the masked figure and Beruka were close to the door, while Niles was nearby, leaning against the wall with his arms folded and one foot pressing against the wall. Selena was also nearby, though unlike Niles, she was simply standing still, hands on her hips.

"Elise… pardon me, princess Elise should be safe now. What is the problem?"

"We gathered themselves in that crystal ball and trusted our dear royals and a cold assassin not to accidentally drop us over the course of a hours-long flight through the lovely weather of Nohr. It was pretty mundane, really." Assured Niles.

"Hm… I've seen your soldiers emerge forth out of the crystal ball, thus, I believe you."

The masked person (their voice was just at the right pitch to make it hard to really identify) shifted to stare at the crystal, tilting their head in slight confusion.

"I take it that you missed the letter that was sent to your boat."

"Yes, what of it?"

"You were assigned to Cheve." Said the masked man. "Iago, your grand general, has managed to find a way to secure Macarath's freedom."

"And how will he do it?"

"He's sent us first to take down the scum deep in the castle. Normally, were if not for your intervention, more of our brothers and sisters would be opening the doors of Macarath for the coming army… which is camouflaged thanks to a spell developed very recently by your dark mages and Iago himself. It requires for the army to move slowly, but it cloak their movements and prevent their footsteps from being seen, or noises from being heard."

Why Iago would share the spells's secrets with Mokusu was odd, but she figured that the Mokushujins learned on their own secretly, and the masked person was just smart enough not to outright admit spying to an ally.

"The army should be… very close by now." Assured the Mokushujin. "The Hoshidians will be caught by surprise when confronted with such a surprise strike, and Macarath will be retaken. Perhaps not without a lot of bloodshed, though."

"I see… so that's why we were sent elsewhere."

"Indeed. But a most surprising sight has happened : on top of your presence, some manner of beast has made an attack on the city. It apparently blew off one of the doors of the city, which is a considerable feat. What manner of bizarre land has Nohr explored to find such a creature?"

The confused Nohrians stared at each other, with Azura slowly shaking her head. Should they tell the Mokushujins about what happened?

"It was caused by the royals." Said Beruka, half-lying. "You must've noticed the absence of our royals. They themselves used the power of dragon veins to cause such a ruckus."

"I was told of the great power of those blessed by the divine blood… this make sense. They seems to be fighting within the castle now, which, with all due respect, might complicate things… most of the Hoshidians are surely on high alert right now, and will be focused towards the castle."

"A lot of soldiers were killed in the assault… but you're right. Perhaps we could find a way to weaken them in time, though?"

"And what would that be?"

"There's a lot of bad stuff in Macarath too." Interrupted Niles, taking one or two steps forth, his arms folded confidently. "The poison in there can make someone's lungs drip out of their nostrils… if they're getting off easy, that is. Can't create a cure without a disease to test on after all. Heh, lucky for us that those dangerous venoms are carried in easily-destroyed pottery, hm?"

"How prescient of you to suggest this, the Hoshidians have scattered those traps over key positions in the garden. It will not be easy to reach them even with arrows but with their number…"

The outlaw smirked, and his suggestion was understood, though Selena had to make her intervention.

"Yeah sure, let's release all that super dangerous stuff into the room so that the royals and the army can catch a whiff too."

"No need for them to get in. If we're quick, the Hoshidians will stumble out by themselves and our dear colleagues will simply need to collect them… it's like in the capital, when we needed to get rats out of their nest. You throw a fire down the hole and collect them when they come out, it's simple."

"Gawds!" Said Selena. "But how do we prevent Lady Camilla and Lord Corrin from getting caught?"

"The poison will not spread instantly... Niles and those of you with a bow, you can go upstairs. Try to find a position to shoot the vases. Once you do, shoot them." Said Beruka. "I can't give you a clear warning with all the noise outside."

"Got it. Try not to be too slow."

"Selena and…"

"Zakuul."

"Zakuul and Selena, you will help me get to them. We'll cut down the Hoshidians in our way and quickly join Lady Camilla and Corrin. I'll summon… Odin… Nyx and that clumsy woman for that. Once I am done, Azura, you will receive the crystal ball. Use it to put the princess somewhere safe."

"Very well." Said Azura, speaking up for perhaps the time to someone who wasn't Corrin.

Beruka grabbed her crystal sphere, and laid it on the ground, tapping it with her fingers. The Mokushujins watched in interest as Odin, Felicia and Nyx emerged out of it.

"Battle calls at last!" Said Odin. "My cursed hand was going to explode and take us all into oblivion!"

"O-oh, that sounds pretty bad."

Nyx simply grunted. Beruka turned towards Zakuul, pointing her finger at them.

"Brief them." Ordered the retainer, before turning around to gift the crystal ball to Arthur, who nodded.

"Beruka… may I contribute to the battle at hand?" Said Arthur. "Lady Elise will be safe in this odd kingdom in the crystal gate, and I wish to help her."

"Hm… you will defend Azura. Hoshidians may try to come your way. Fend them off and defend the content of these rooms.

The two retainers and the soldiers made a salute in answer (though Arthur's was a bit more hammy, as a sign of recovery), and the armored rider simply looked at Selena, who looked almost amused.

"I never thought I'd see you take command of a group, Beruka!" She spoke. "You must be riled up!"

"I simply do not tolerate incompetence, Selena." Replied the assassin, though she briefly dwelled on her words. "We may talk about this later, for now, the army should almost be at the door of Macarath, it is crucial…"

Somewhere in the distance, about a hundred (though perhaps there were even more) war cries could be heard, and everyone in the room could figure out their origins. Only Nohrians could so effortlessly produce a war cry that could be heard over the wrath of the elements!

"… They are at our door." Commented Zakuul.

"Wonderful observation skills. Let's go."

The groups departed or took position. After only a few meters though, a Mokushujin ran ahead, panicked!

"It's chaos outside! The Nohrians are storming in and two royals are fighting in the garden! What should we do?!"

"You follow me!" Answered Zakuul, pointing behind them with their thumb. Beruka didn't see fit to engage in a dialogue during a last-second attempt at ensuring that Macarath would be retaken smoothly, but she was wondering who exactly was fighting Ryoma. Was it Camilla? Then it was fine. Camilla would be able to hold her own against him even without her wyvern, especially if she had to save her sister.

Was it Corrin? If it was Corrin then… he was doubtlessly in danger. He had yet to really fight even the weaker siblings of Hoshido fairly and yet here he was, apparently dueling a warrior that apparently managed to stalemate the likes of Xander at the plains of Hoshido. If she knew him right, he had done it to try and distract the army, but surely he was not expecting to win?

For the first time in a while, she felt fear, and yet, it was not for herself.

…

_Two minutes earlier._

One more blow, one more attack that sends him nearly flying several meters backwards, causing him to land on his back, on one of the concrete "roads" within the garden. It speaks of the volume of the battle that the subsequent shock hurt him far less than all of Ryoma's attacks.

The dragon prince quickly rises but spots a shadow above him, barely noticing the plunging figure of his brother in time. Swiftly, he rolls to his side, managing to dodge Ryoma from landing a blow on him with his knee. Ryoma slowly get up while Corrin also manages to find his way back on his feet, raising Yato towards the lightning-wielding high prince.

Ryoma was only barely wounded thus far, having been nicked or cut a little (at best) in non vital areas. In spite of the efforts that he had to put forth thus far, he wasn't even winded, though his initially solemn face had grown angrier over the course of the "duel" if it could even be called that.

Corrin, by contrast, was reeling back from quite a lot of wounds, bearing multiple slashes on his armor and his face. His blood was dripping down at a fast rate, seeping into the grass below when it wasn't washed away by the rain beforehand. His lungs were on fire, every harsh breath only hurt his throat even more and his body felt heavier by the second. Simply moving his hand was akin to trying to move a large rock, from Corrin's perspective, and each action required his full effort.

"Whatever you're doing to him, I'll deal it back to you a hundredfold! Let him go!"

Ryoma didn't even bother acknowledging Camilla, and Corrin's smiles rang hollow at this point. Rather, he prepared himself for a new set of injuries, which came soon enough when the Hoshidian prince made his charge. This time though, Raijinto met Yato, the shockwave of the clash briefly blowing away the raindrops around them. That said, while the swords were perhaps even, the difference in strength between their owners was large : Soon after stopping Ryoma's charge, Corrin found himself being sent on his knees, the sparks from the clash of the blades illuminating his face and Ryoma's.

Not one to so easily give up though, Corrin attempted to regain control of the situation, managing to briefly lift his brother's sword. And while Ryoma seemed ready to easily overpower him again, the blue-haired young man quickly raised his left leg to kick him in the stomach, managing to send him sliding backward.

But the red lord would not even let this brother have such a small victory, already running back to Corrin to slash at him. In answer, Corrin swung his sword, the blades clashing three times before the young man decided to go on the offensive himself with a horizontal slash. In spite of his size and armor, his foe easily dodged the attack, ducking beneath the blade. The dragon prince gasped in shock, but before he could correct his mistake, Ryoma swung his foot at the back of his head, successfully making contact and sending the young man flying forward, straight into the grass.

Corrin harshly landed on his stomach and laid there for some seconds before slowly struggling back to his feet. His opposing duelist chose not to intervene this time, merely observing his brother's attempt at continuing the fight, though eventually, frustration took over patience.

"Why? Why would you fight so hard to stay in Nohr? Why would you choose to deny your homeland?"

"I… already told you… Ryoma." Said Corrin, stabbing his sword into the ground and holding unto it to easily get back to his feet. "Nohr will collapse if a war happens… "

"Then so be it. This husk of a country will finally pay for what it's done to itself years ago."

Corrin shook his head and lunged forward, swinging his sword two times, putting so much of his remaining strength in each strike that he felt like his arms would tear themselves off from his body and go flying. And these desperate strikes were met with most casual parries : Ryoma only swung his sword twice to deflect Yato, and made a move on his own, slashing the air horizontally with one hand. Seeing his opportunity, Corrin attacked instead of retreating, allowing Raijinto to slice into his flesh to carve a red line on his cheek. A worthy sacrifice, Corrin thought, because Ryoma had no way out of this one! For while Ryoma made his move, Corrin poured all his power into a decisive blow, swinging a two-handed strike that would smash straight through a wall!

"_Ryoma… forgive me!"_

Corrin closed his eyes… and his sword stopped.

It stopped, instead of cleaving through. Horrified, the young man's eyes opened, and he saw what happened : While the red prince was swinging his weapon with one hand, he kept the other to intercept any attack, perhaps banking on his foe deciding to engage in a desperation attack. And this one hand, by grabbing Yato's handle (and, thus, Corrin's own bloodied hands), managed to stop the strike dead-on. Something that he poured all his power into had been stopped with casual ease.

He knew he was weakened and he knew of Ryoma's prowess but… was the difference in power this large?

"Kamui… forgive me."

Ryoma swung his sword, and slashed Corrin vertically, carving a great gash from his left shoulder up to his other leg, and before the dragon prince could even focus on _that _pain, the sword's electricity effect made itself known by violently shocking him, causing him to scream in pain for five seconds before eventually stopping, with the prince being left to barely stand on his two feet. On top of his obvious wounds, smoke was coming out of him now, and his eyes were milky white.

And yet, he was still conscious. Still able to hear Camilla's long cry of anguish or the victory howls of the Hoshidian or Ryoma's demand for forgiveness. But the sounds didn't matter for now.

He had failed. Utterly.

He foolishly charged in without thinking, challenged Ryoma arrogantly, trapped his entire army in a castle full of angry Hoshidians and more or less forced his sister to assist to a gruesome "duel". And now, he was going to come back to Hoshido, back to the people he betrayed, to now fight the war on their side, and behold the destruction of the country that he fought to protect.

Silas, Arthur, Azura, Niles, Beruka… they were all going to die here perhaps, because of him, and Camilla was going to be taken hostage.

It was all over. And for a brief moment, Corrin considered just falling into unconsciousness to accept his destiny… but yet, before he could do so, a voice resonated inside of him.

"Be rid of your doubts, young one."

Were Corrin placed in any other situation, he'd ask himself where the voice was coming from, but right now, all he thought about was to win. And thus, for a few seconds, he got rid of the guilt and fear. He stopped thinking about what would happen if he fails, and only what would happen if he were to win. The world around him faded to black, and he temporarily forgot about everything but the fight. It was just Ryoma and himself, and his sole goal in the world, the reason for his existence within the next ten seconds, was to beat him!

Corrin's pupils came back to his eye, and he managed to let out a defiant cry, surprising Ryoma, who thought of him as beaten. Quickly drawing his sword in spite of his surprise, the prince's blade clashed with Corrin's once more, but before he could retaliate, a sudden amount of strength washed over the blue-haired man, and with a most mighty swing of his arm, he overpowered his enemy, sending him hurling across the garden!

Landing on his feet in spite of his confusion, Ryoma stabbed his sword into the ground to stop himself from sliding backward any further and observed his revitalized foe. Nothing about him was outwardly different, and he still had his wounds and burns from the lightning (though some had been closed), but his eyes were… sharper, different, and his body language was much more assured.

"Stop fighting Kamui! You'll only hurt yourself!"

Ryoma swung back into the fray, deploying his speed to approach Corrin. This was useless, though : From the dragon's perspective, both Ryoma and even the raindrops around him were moving to a crawl. Had he been in a more playful mood, perhaps he would have marveled at his speed, but right now, he had better things to focus on. Approaching his foe, the dragon prince swung his sword at his left shoulder, destroying his shoulder-guard and causing blood to spurt out of it.

The prince was thrown back in surprise once more, though this time, he was sent flying over his soldiers. Thinking quickly though, the wielder of Raijinto landed on a nearby wall with his feet and dashed back into the fray, swinging his sword. Corrin intercepted the sword using Yato, and both men went at it with their swords, the spectators too stunned to offer commentary.

It was like a whirlwind of blades, with occasional bursts of lightning. Ryoma was now moving much closer to Corrin's speed, though even then, the dragon prince was doing much better than before. Ryoma swung his sword thrice, but Corrin dodged every single one and transformed his hand into a claw of a sort, swinging it at Ryoma with enough speed to somewhat tag the swift swordsmaster, breaking part of his helmet and causing some blood to spurt out of his forehead!

The fight lasted ten seconds, or ten hours, but eventually had a victor when the red prince managed to seize the upper hand once more, grasping Corrin by the arm to stop his sword strike and then temporarily letting go of Raijinto to… punch him in the face, sending him back down to the ground, the prince's exhaustion finally catching up to him as he crumbled into a heap into the mud and fallen rain, sending red-colored water flying around him.

Unlike before, no cheer ensued : Hoshidians and Nohrians spectators were too confused at the turn of events.

In spite of this though, Ryoma could see that Corrin was trying to get back up, reaching for his sword that was dropped when he got punched in the face. In answer to that, the red prince awaited for him to retrieve it and, when Corrin swung his retrieved Yato at him, immediately grasped the fallen Raijinto, hitting with enough power to knock the legendary sword out of Corrin's hand and sent it hurling meters away.

The odd sword clanged to the ground, with smoke coming out of it, and Ryoma pointed the tip of his own legendary weapon at Corrin. The young man's stamina was gone, and the fact that he was still clinging to consciousness was a feat in itself. The man who defeated him could tell that he was still trying to get up. Milky eyes focused on Ryoma, and the prince's body entire vainly attempted to move, in any way possible.

"Kamui… have you met with the Sage?"

"… No…" Croaked Corrin, too exhausted to even move. "I… I can't tell you what came over me…"

"I see… then retrieving you is even more important." Said Ryoma, sheathing his sword. "You will be healed here, and you will assist the invasion. Welcome back, Kam-"

"M-milord!"

A ninja managed to burst into the scene, appearing in a puff of smoke. This caused Ryoma to turn around, aggravated.

"What is it, Sakuze?"

"The… the Nohrians are at our door!" Yelled Sakuze. "A whole army out of nowhere! They're all attacking the door that was blown open by the creature!"

"How?! We should have been able to see them coming hours ago!" Answered the ninja's lord. "How could we not hear them coming as well?"

"The… the storm and your battle must've made it hard for everyone inside to notice."

"Right! Everyone, get into position! They may get the city but we'll use the Nohrian princess and the medicine as tools to prevent them from attacking the castle! Grab Kamui and heal him immediately as well!"

"Yes, my l-"

Before the Hoshidians could get into positions, multiple arrows flew, breaking the poisoned vases and causing some manner of purple smoke to emerge. The heavy wind, and the fact that some of the pots were located in halls, meant that it had a relatively easy time spreading. Soon, the deadly smoke added to the lack of visibility caused by the storm, spreading panic amongst the Hoshidians who carelessly chose to stand next to them!

"What the?!"

The confused soldiers headed towards the healing pots, but quite a lot got lost in the subsequent, and ran away instead. Some diviners used their magic to blow away the smoke but alas, the damage was done. Realizing the situation, Ryoma still turned around, intending to order his retainers to seize Corrin, but it merely allowed him to see that the troops gathered behind the royals were being suddenly slaughtered.

"Beruka!" Said Camilla. Realizing that the situation was now a lot more chaotic, she immediately grasped her axe and went straight for Ryoma, bypassing his retainers to strike directly at her nemesis with her axe. Once more, the mighty Hoshidian's reflexes prove enough to save him, but Camilla strikes with such strength that upon meeting the blade of Raijinto, it is her common axe that wins the struggle, sending the prince sliding backward.

"I'll take your head for what you've done to my family!"

Ryoma raised his sword to attempt to blast her with lightning, and actually succeeded in doing so, causing Camilla to scream in pain. But when he promptly moved in to try and perform a killing blow, he was shocked to find that the princess soldiered on through the pain impressively quickly, as he found out when she drove her fist into his jaw to hurl him backward once more, before proceeding to attack at shocking speed, preventing him from shocking her again;

"Saizo, Kagero! Seize Kamui and escape! I'll find my way out!" He screamed, clear desperation in his voice as Camilla continued to strike at him, casually dispatching the soldiers who attempted to help their lord with a single swing of her axe.

The two ninjas executed their orders, but the Nohrians were already on them before they could apply them, with Beruka attacking the woman with a horizontal axe swing. She quickly ducked beneath the weapon, and played into Beruka's hands, with the assassin promptly performing a knee strike to hit her right in the face and send her flying. The Kunoichi quickly recovered though, and hurled some shurikens, which Beruka deflected with her axe.

Saizo's own attempt at seizing Corrin was interrupted by Selena, who leaped straight to the ninja to slash at him, quickly pushing him backward, to his surprise. This allowed Felicia to leap into battle and over Corrin, at which point, she stopped to make an horrified face.

"O-oh no! Lord Corrin!"

Having already brought her own staff beforehand, Felicia quickly attempted to heal him, but the degrees of his injuries were such that he couldn't get up right away, requiring Felicia to try and get him up, which, since was in the middle of the battlefield, quickly got the attention of a lot of Hoshidians!

"Remove your hands from him, Nohrian!" screamed Ryoma, finding the strength in him to briefly push back the rampaging Camilla before running at Felicia, clearly intending to decapitate her going by the way he was swinging his sword. In answer, the maid ducked, allowing for Odin and Nyx, who stood back, to launch the spells they've been preparing at the prince. This forced Ryoma to block, and gave Camilla enough time to seize him by the collar before tossing him away from the fight. Felicia, understandably nervous, managed to haul Corrin up and began fleeing, running back to her allies.

But even at that pace, this was not enough.

Kagero swung her kunai to stab Beruka, but the latter took a step backward to dodge and then proceeded to kick her away, allowing Zakuul to take over in her stead, using their shurikens to briefly fend her off.

"Go! Rescue the prince!"

The assassin leapt forward and began helping Felicia. Briefly, she contemplated the fact that Corrin's Yato had gone missing, but running back in, amongst the remaining poisonous smoke, the angry Hoshidians, the battling royals and such just for some sword wasn't worth it in her eyes. Beruka put Corrin's arm around her shoulder and began to run away, with the two mages covering them.

"Oh no… Oh no! What… what have they done to him? Oh no…" repeated Felicia over and over, while Beruka contemplated where to hide Corrin. Giving away the crystal ball had been perhaps foolish of her, but they could make that up by quickly rejoining Azura, who should still be defending below. This prompted Beruka to tilt her head to the right, since she doubted that she could be heard, even so close to Felicia, over all the warfare that was happening.

Luckily for them, a few soldiers that they brought with them were backing them up. Not so luckily, a bunch of samurais leapt out at the end of the hall, swords drawn.

"Sto-GAAHHHH!" Yelled a Samurai, finding himself tragically cut off by a Fire spell. Beruka nodded at Odin, and headed towards a passage on the right, at a specific portion of the wall. Pressing on a specific tile allowed the wall to "open up" to yet another secret passage. It looked like it hadn't been taken yet, but out of precaution, she grabbed her axe.

"I know that one. It's a slide." She said, taking a few steps into it and stopping short of the actual slide. Whoever made that one secret passage had to be in a playful mood. "There's a chance that a trap was left."

"Oh, then maybe we shouldn't take it?"

"I doubt it, maid. We'll get caught in the fighting should we proceed forward. I'll slide down. Should there be something dangerous, I shall scream as loudly as I can before dying." She commented. Felicia's eyes widened but the assassin, who knew exactly how little time they had, merely took the slide, looking as stoic as usual as she slowly slid down the somewhat decrepit spot. The slide eventually took her in a small dark room, and barely opening the door allowed her to see that Beruka had found her way back underground, though she wasn't exactly as close to the stocking rooms, where the army was located, as she liked.

"B-Beruka? Huuhhh, if you don't speak up I'm gonna think you're dead!" Interrupted Felicia.

"I'm fine! Get down there before the army catch up." Answered Beruka, using a volume of voice that she rarely used. "Send him down!"

Felicia grunted slightly and a slight green light illuminated the top of the slide before an unconscious Corrin was brought to her, Felicia having perhaps healed him to try to prevent them from being reopened during the slide. Beruka swiftly caught him, putting one hand on his back and one arm on the back of his legs and then stepping backward, allowing the rest to catch up.

Odin was the only one who allowed himself to say "Weeeeee" as he descended.

"Phew! Things are tough above!" Said Felicia, dusting her clothes off. "We left right on time, it's chaos up there!"

"Good. We'll need to rejoin it eventually." Answered the wyvern rider. "Onward."

Beruka opened the door by using her shoulder and looked around, soon hearing the noises of battle elsewhere within the catacombs.

"Oh no! Even in our safe haven, the revengeful light chases us, seeking to burn away our holy darkness! Quick! Let us defend our underground home!"

"What?"

"He means that we need to hurry up to kill the Hoshidians… I think?" Indicated a soldier, speaking to his confused colleague. His intervention prompted Beruka to approach him to hand Corrin over.

"Keep him safe, there will be a fight ahead. I want the rest of you to surround the soldier. Felicia, Odin, you'll accompany me. If I don't kill a soldier, you finish them off. Be swift and don't try to get overwhelmed."

"Wait, how will we find Azura and the others?"

Somewhere in the halls, a song resonated. Perhaps Azura was using it to help someone? Either way, this was a guide. All there was left to do was to make their way through a bunch of enraged Samurais, an endeavor that Beruka almost eagerly engaged herself in, running towards the direction of the singing. It took a run around just one corner for her to spot three Hoshidians, all of whom failed to notice her until it was too late.

The assassin, using her skills, leapt forth and removed the heads of two soldiers with a swift strike of her axe. The third one managed to turn around at the last time, but his killer jumped and performed a most mighty downward attack, cleaving both blade and body-alike, his shattered katana falling at Beruka's feet. The assassin briefly stopped to acquire the fallen katana of one of the beheaded Hoshidians, and went her way.

More of them appeared in her path, and Camilla's retainers once again swung her weapons at the enemy, sometimes killing them, sometimes weakening the soldiers just enough for Felicia or the soldiers to finish off. Odin, though, appeared to be holding a spell in reserve, opting to kick whatever soldier laid in his path with surprising strength for a dark mage.

"Ah! My spell can only be unleash on most worthy foes! Those soldiers, however, lack the pro-"

"Incoming!"

Beruka threw the katana through a Samurai's chest, and used her axe to swiftly kill another. They all seemed to be running towards a certain spot, something that Odin probably realized as well.

"We're getting closer to the song!"

"Yes, the road ahead should…"

The assassin turned around the next corner and stopped herself, holding out her arm to prevent her allies from running in as well. Felicia, who had been running at high speed, got outright knocked to the ground by this, and managed to get herself up to a most surprising sight.

Apparently, Arthur and company managed to trap the Hoshidians in a chokepoint, with a determined Effie using her mighty strength and shield to hold back at least a dozen grown men, with the help of Azura's song. Beruka and the others were at the "wrong" end of the chokepoint, directly behind all those men. And while the assassin was confident in her abilities, and wasn't alone, having to fight them together would be most difficult… though thankfully, Odin's spell was apparently completed, since the yellow man boldly leapt forward.

"Ah! Careful Effie!"

The Hoshidians turned around just in time to be promptly incinerated by a lightning spell, the force of which was potent enough to send Beruka to the ground even when she wasn't the target. Luckily though, Odin was skilled enough to avoid too much collateral and the bolts of lighting "merely" flew from one soldier to another, frying them before they could even realize what was happening.

A most terrible sound accompanied by the brightest light did blind and deafen the Nohrians though, and Beruka found herself stumbling to get back to her feet. Her hearing came back, with a loud, loud noise accompanying it, and so did her eyes, though her vision was plagued by visual oddities for a few moments. That said, even with this temporary handicap, she could see that Corrin had been dropped to the ground, causing her to once more pick him up, and this time, she headed straight for Azura, ignoring Odin's attempts at helping.

"Oh, sorry! My fell hand's power is such that even when I'm holding back, it may be too much!"

"Beruka? What are you doing with C-oh!"

Azura, for perhaps the first time ever, briefly had a look of outright surprise in her face, putting her hand on her mouth out of shock at Corrin's taste. Beruka, who had been too busy to focus on it, lowered her eyes and saw that he was, indeed, quite wounded even after being healed twice : While they looked more like fresh scars after multiple heals, he was still in an obvious bad state… In fact, he was barely in a better condition than his broken armor and his breathing was ragged, almost desperate, as if he was clinging to life.

The assassin had seen worse wounds in her lifetime (some done by her own hands), but those particular injuries upset her more than any of them, somehow.

"Take him, and keep him safe until the end." Said Beruka, motioning for Felicia to approach. "The maid will heal his wounds."

It was surprising that the staves would fail to cure him, but then again, the effectiveness of the healing depends on the strength of the user, and to Felicia's defense, those were wounds done by a lightning sword. While giving out the order, the blue-haired assassin glanced at the other rooms, each defended by knights, Mokushujins or even Arthur… and gripped her axe, feeling a desire to vent an unusual anger of a sort, and this time, she somehow knew its origin.

Effie, perhaps feeling the anger of her fellow retainer got into position, and so did the rest of Beruka's little squad. Azura, seeing this, prepared to turn around to put Corrin somewhere safe, only addressing a brief glance to the group, though especially Beruka.

"Thank you."

"… No need."

And, with that, Beruka went back into the fight.

…

**N/A :** Hey! I tried to make things shorter this time, but still, it's a pretty long chapter! Then again, the showdown with Ryoma deserves a long list.

I don't plan on dwelling too much on Macarath, the next chapter should be a breather to make up for all the recent fighting. It might be a bit boring but I don't want to just throw endless fighting scenes.

I've introduced an OC but while they will stick around for some obvious chapters, Zakuul is probably not going to be a regular (unless people like them, I guess). I don't really like using OCs, but Mokushu only has Kotaro. I kind of wanted to show them early and demonstrate the alliance between the two countries, which I plan on expanding on.

What did y'all think of this chapter? Feedback is important after all!

See ya later!


	9. Date and broken sword

The two wooden swords clashed once, then multiple times over, at a blindingly fast pace, striking each other with such speed and strength that wood of lesser constitution would have perhaps been set on fire now. While both seemed equally matched, one of the eventually won through trickery, clashing once more with the other sword before sliding down the blade at a fast pace, quickly reaching the hands belonging to its rival's owner and slashing them with much less strength once.

"Phew!"

Corrin backed off, and Ryoma gripped his hand, falsely trying to make it look like had been terribly wounded.

"It looks like you've managed to get the upper hand, Kamui!" He said, causing Takumi to groan in the distance. In answer to that, his brother laughed.

"Only barely!"

The three men were at Castle Shirasagi, within one of its gardens, all dressed in fairly casual attire. Corrin even managed to let go of his armor to briefly wear one of their "kimonos", wearing a long white cloth supposedly worn commonly in the country of the East. While he had been uncomfortable at first, he actually managed to adapt fairy well to those new clothes, to his mother's delight.

"Ryoma, you should stop taking it easy on him." Said Takumi, from the rock he was sitting on. "He's going to be bragging all night about this!"

"Oh, I do plan on doing that, brother! Queen Mikoto may hand Raijinto over to him at this rate if I keep losing those training sessions!"

Corrin briefly observed the two brothers and then contemplated his surroundings. The lush garden, brightly illuminated by the sun above, was an environment that he never tired of contemplating. While his childhood home had a garden, it wasn't half as beautiful as the castle's, and Nohr, in general, was much darker than Hoshido. He rarely had the occasion to experience grass tickling his feet in Nohr, for instance, and while the plants of Hoshido were healthy and strong, those of the "Dusk country" (as said by some Hoshidians) struggled to survive.

Somewhere, a part of him felt guilty about living that ideal life in a peaceful country while the people of Nohr who weren't located in big cities had to try and live in far harsher conditions.

"Hey, boys!"

Corrin turned around, and saw Sakura and his mother, emerging out of a room in the castle. Hinoka was in front of them, quickly advancing towards the trio. He couldn't help but notice the wooden staff she was skillfully spinning in her hands, or the mischievous smirks she had on as she took a battle stance, inviting her brothers to come at her with an hand gesture.

"How about I take you on with my spear? Come on, I'm taking on the three of you here!"

"Oooh, a challenge. How good are our chances here?" Answered the draconic prince.

"Mhhh… maybe if the three of us team up, Sakura won't need to use her staff." Commented Ryoma. "Come, Kamui, Takumi, let us offer a spectacle to our retainers!"

"Mh… I'd gladly do that but I wouldn't want to get stabbed in the back mid-fight." Commented Takumi, getting up and dropping from his rock. "And… I need to talk to Hinata for something. See you, Hinoka, Ryoma. Corrin."

After single-handedly bringing the mood down, Takumi left, leaving his confused siblings behind. Mikoto shook her head in the distance, and Corrin saw an occasion to talk about this with her. Thus, he decided to bow to his siblings, attempting to hide just how admittedly hurt he was by smiling at Ryoma and bowing.

"Well unfortunately, I'm actually quite afraid of Hinoka! I bid you good luck Ryoma, and don't go too hard on him Hinoka!"

"You escape for now Kamui, but later today, we'll be sparing! And you won't get to run away!"

"Well we can see who's the bravest of us!" Laughed Ryoma. "Be sure that I shall remember this treachery Kamui!"

Corrin, who was already on his way to Mikoto, briefly stopped, the word shaking him for some reason. However, he shook his head and left, allowing Hinoka and Ryoma to begin a sparing session that was already getting the attention of a lot of the inhabitants of the castle, with people watching from the windows or heading down the garden to behold a fight between royals.

The young man headed towards the table where his mother and sister were sitting at and sat down on his knees. Sakura looked curious at the fight, but her shyness prevented her from approaching, and beside, Corrin caught her attention.

"S-sorry about Takumi, Kamui…"

"Don't be sorry, he's… a bit suspicious but that's fine." Said Corrin. "Though admittedly I wonder how I could prove myself to him. It's been a month since I've arrived after all…"

"Give him time. Takumi was… very shocked by your kidnapping, and he doesn't open up to people easily." Said Mikoto, with an encouraging smile. "But he cares about you, I'm sure of it."

Corrin nodded, and stared briefly at his mother. He could see, perhaps, the similarities. They had nearly the same face, the same kindness, the same… mole near their lips, but otherwise, he felt different from her.

The Hoshidian queen was skilled when it came to diplomacy and social matters. People hung on her every word. A single smile from her spread joy amongst her people. The faintest frown on her face instantly calmed the most stubborn individuals. She made herself clear without raising her voice and she skillfully went from one discussion to another, somehow always managing to amaze whoever was speaking to her at the time.

By contrast, he often found himself awkward when it came to talking, having only ever interacted with his retainers or siblings. He could never so easily amaze or impress like Mikoto and the thought of skipping from one conversation to another was impossible to him. His siblings liked to call him "magnetic", and said that he was quite charismatic when he wanted to, but it always felt like they were trying to cuddle him.

Only with people he trust or wanted to get close to did he ever manage to actually look presentable.

It reminded him of a book that he read once in the fortress. It was about one ugly little animal accidentally born in the wrong place, who earned the reject of his peers before meeting his "real people", all of whom were magnificent in comparison. While the memories of the book were hazy (since his retainers were, for reasons he now understood, quite quick to take it away), he remembered it enough to now know how the little animal felt when it stumbled upon its more majestic fellows.

He was but a confused little cygnet while she was a graceful swan.

"Maybe I could try to get him a gift."

"Good idea, Kamui!" Said Mikoto. Then, the queen proceeded to put down some tea she was drinking before leaning forward a little, clasping her hands and crossing her fingers, her smile fading a little.

"… But you know, I do see where he's coming from?"

Corrin blinked and took the time to realize that the sound of the battle in the background had faded, and the chipper Sakura was frozen in her position, along with everyone else in the courtyard. But more than the persons, his surroundings themselves were seemingly frozen in time, be it the cheery tree petals now trapped in mid-air or the smoke coming out of Mikoto's tea.

"What do you mean?"

Mikoto said nothing for a while, then one tear escaped her left eye, then more followed, while she remained absolutely stoic otherwise.

"Well, you will betray us eventually and… and tear down everything that surrounds us." She said, her voice lacking any emotions.

Corrin moved to get up, but he failed to do exactly that. To his horror, his whole body was frozen as well, with the sole exception of his eyes.

"And you'd do that right after my death too…"

"Mom? What are you talking about?!, I… I…"

Mikoto moved her hands to grasp Corrin's cheeks and looked at him straight on before speaking in a voice that he didn't recognize.

"Calm down. Wake up, wake up, wake up."

Corrin, since there wasn't much he could do, closed his eyes, and…

… Awakened in a bed rather brutally. Though like his previous nightmares, he simply opened his eyes and left out a surprised yelp instead of outright bolting out of his bed.

The blue-haired man breathed in and out slowly, adapting to his surroundings in an attempt to regain his footing. The sunny plains of Hoshido were gone, leaving a white room to take their place. It was windowless, and relatively barren, with some modest locker as company (and a frankly ugly red and yellow carpet in the shape of a circle).

More importantly than that ugly carpet though, there was a chair next to him, and a Beruka was sitting on it, frowning.

"I'll tell Lady Camilla that you're awake." She said, though the assassin, before she could even get up, noticed the obvious distress on the dragon's face.

"… Is something wrong?"

"I… I… I... where am I? I-is that Macarath?" He said, attempting to get up. In answer, Beruka was content with firmly yet (relatively) gently holding him back.

"Yes we are." She said. "Calm down, I'll answer your questions before leaving."

Looking down, Corrin could see that he was now clad in a regular short-sleeved shirt with pants, which allowed him to see that he had bandages all over his uncovered arms, causing him to sit down in shock.

"I… alright can… can you told me what happened?"

Beruka waited before giving out her answer.

"You're at Macarath. You've fought Ryoma and ended up overwhelmed. We saved you but the damage done to you was such that you went in a long sleep." Said Beruka. "It's been two days."

"Two days?!" He almost yelled in surprise.

"Yes, this is what I said."

The prince absorbed the information slowly. Had he been beaten that badly?

"What happened to the Hoshidians."

"… They're gone. We didn't get the prince since he fled, but the counter-offensive killed off quite a lot of them, and those of them that didn't die were sent running for their lives." She said. "Macarath is free."

Seeing no real reaction for him, Beruka opted to raise her fist.

"We did it. Yes." She said, with zero enthusiasm, attempting to get some joy out of him.

"I… oh, what about Elise?"

"She's fine. She was back on her feet before you actually."

Corrin sighed and allowed a small smile to form on his lips, laying back down in bed. In spite of all the bandages (he could feel them on his legs, or back, or torso or even face), he didn't feel that hurt. Maybe it tickled to move at some points, but for someone who got into a nasty fight with his big brother, he felt oddly fine. Like he could tear off the bandages and just run out of the room.

Not like Beruka would like it though.

"I will inform the royals of your awakening and bring you some water." Said Beruka, cutting through the short silence. "The world unfortunately didn't wait for you to awaken before moving on, it seems."

"Alright, erm…"

Beruka headed outside but Corrin managed to deliver his line to her before she could leave.

"… Thanks for saving me, Beruka."

She stopped, her back turned to him, and stared back only slightly, contemplating him before proceeding to respond.

"You're welcome."

Beruka quickly left the room and closed the door behind her, daring to lock behind her to avoid any nasty surprises, arriving at the enormous halls of Castle Macarath, heading out to the right. All around her, Nohrians were trying to repair their surroundings, wiping out whatever blood stains remained, adding new coats of paints or, in some cases, replacing famous paintings with their own handmade paintings. None of them stood in her way though, and she headed to the right, descending the stairs to access Camilla's room.

Having received little damage during Hoshido's occupation, this room was quickly renovated into an apartment of a sort for Camilla. While the rest of the army were renting somewhere in the city close to the palace, Camilla, Elise and Azura "lived" within the most prestigious building.

Camilla, satisfied by the wounds she inflicted on Ryoma, was now in a much better mood than before, cheerily handling the reparation efforts (or rather, assumed control of someone else's task). Apparently she handled Iago, who was upset at her for ignoring his orders. The strategist chose to "most graciously" forgive the army and congratulated them for their efforts, promising to make them famous. King Garon was especially appreciative of the efforts to rescue his daughter.

Furthermore, they received two new members to what Camilla called their "cheerful little bunch", presumably with airquotes.

"Hi! My name is Peri, P stand for…"

"Polite."

"E stand for…"

"Emphatic."

"R stand for…"

"Resolute."

"And I stand for…"

"Intelligent."

"Yay!"

Beruka arrived right in time to witness their introductory little routine, under the watchful gaze of Camilla, both striking a celebratory high-five (though Laslow was much more composed than Peri). An amused Elise clapped but Camilla looked unimpressed, simply raising her finger to point at Laslow.

"Oh and I'm Laslow!"

"Good! But don't introduce yourself too late! You should say it before Peri, and you should use that acronym thing!"

"We're having a hard time finding good names, especially since L come back twice. And Peri's name is shorter, so it's easier to spell it out."

Beruka coughed, and the duo turned around in surprise. As for Camilla, she rose up her seat with such speed that Beruka thought that her master was accidentally going to jump all the way to the top of the castle.

"Corrin has awoken. You may greet him."

"ExcellentworkBerukafetchwaterwhileicometovisithim"

"I have the key as…"

Beruka held out her key but Camilla and Elise were gone quickly, leaving her alone with Laslow and… Peri.

"Hello Beruka." Said Laslow. "Lady Camilla is a very energetic woman it seems."

"Hehe, she's fun! Xander is always so serious! He's always like "let us consult our intelligence" before doing anything!"

"Yes. _Lady _Camilla is hard to contain."

Beruka moved over to a closet near Camilla's desk and opened it, pulling a little water jar out of it and a glass. Usually she'd leave such a case to someone else, but Beruka chose to be paranoid recently. There could always be a ninja around, waiting for a chance to strike once more, waiting for a chance to pull out their well-concealed knife to try and finish off the weakened Corrin or a distracted member of the royal family.

"Say, Beruka, since you're probably distracted right now, do you know where I could find Selena?" Said Laslow, aware that Beruka wasn't exactly a social butterfly. The assassin considered just saying "no", but sending him somewhere else would be a good way to perhaps get rid of Peri.

She attempted to remember whatever Selena could have said, as a clue, and to her surprise, it came up to her with some ease.

"… She should be shopping near the castle. She's expressed interest in going to shop at the clothing store a few streets down. The one with the red roof."

"Alright, thank you Beruka. Hey, Peri, how about we go for a race? The loser will need to buy something for the winner."

"Then you best prepare your wallet, Las! I'm going to buy a lot of knives and swords! Starting point is at the entrance of the castle!"

Peri ran off the room, and Laslow turned around briefly.

"… I don't think she heard the clothing shop part."

…

Beruka wasn't surprised when she arrived to find Corrin receiving quite the hug from Camilla, with Elise somewhat patiently waiting for her turn. It didn't look like she would ever get to at this pace though, since the unfortunate prince might just end up split in two by the purple-haired princess at this point. Fortunately, Beruka intervened, tapping her lady on the shoulder.

Which Camilla didn't react to.

"Oh my poor Corrin! Those fiendish brutes! You were to brave to take on Ryoma! And that sudden burst of power that you displayed! Oh my! Were you not already wounded, we could be celebrating the capture of that swine! But you'll be glad to know that your big sister sent him running!"

"Oh! You took on Ryoma for me?!" Said Elise. "You already flew all the way over to Macarath just to cure me! I'm so grateful!"

Camilla chose to let go of Corrin, and the young man was left on his back, with big round eyes. He did eventually snap out of it when he noticed Elise though, and he moved to hug her as well.

"Elise, you've been cured!"

"Yay! It's all thanks to Azura and you guys!"

"It seems like everyone pulled their weight!" Answered Corrin. "So… Beruka filled me up on what happened."

Seeing her cue, Beruka walked up to Corrin and handed him the glass of water. He instantly drank it all, and she figured that she was going to need another. Luckily though, she carried the jar to the room, and just filled the glass again.

"Where are the others? What are we doing next? What happened to Yato? What happened to my armor?"

"Haha, you're curious! Well, the others are at the castle or close to it! We're going to Cheve next to handle an uprising, it's fairly close by! Your armor's unfortunately all broken up! But we're making a newer version! As for Yato, well… I don't know, that lobster prince knocked it away from your hands…"

"Those are quite the news, I… oh, I've lost Yato?" He asked, sounding shaken up. Camilla shook her head sadly, and Elise scratched the top of her head, sticking her tongue out slightly, as if she was trying to find out a solution to the problem.

"I'm sure that no Hoshidian can steal it, and I'll cut off the Nohrian hands that tried to steal it! We've got another whole day to look for it, don't worry!"

"Lady Camilla! LordIago has sent a messenger!" Said a man from down the hall, with quite the impressive lungs.

Camilla sighed heavily but got up up.

"I'm leaving my dears! Wish me luck in handling Iago, hehe!"

Camilla left quickly, and Elise made a candid smile, preparing to spend time with Corrin. However she, too, was interrupted by outside voices, namely, Effie's.

"Lady Elise! Arthur has been struck by lightning! We need your help!"

"Oh no! Arthur! Huh, see you later then!"

Elise ran away, and Beruka simply handed Corrin another drink before closing the door behind the princess. Corrin looked bothered by the matter of Yato, but didn't show it, befitting his tendency to bury away whatever doubts he felt. At this point, the assassin knew him well enough to come to such a conclusion. And while she could easily leave him alone… she, strangely enough, didn't want to just walk out and leave him like that.

This was most confusing to her, but she rationalized it. She didn't have much to do, and Corrin needed her around to prevent an attack on him.

"… Heh, sorry Beruka, I don't really know what do now." He said. "I'm, huh, a bit confused. We could hang out but I can't think of anything to do."

"If you don't feel bothered by your wounds, we could… go shop for weapons."

Corrin tilted his head.

"If you need another weapon on top of Yato… when I'll be found again." She said, narrowly saying "if you need to replace Yato." He would need one weapon anyway, and for the sake of their battle buddying, she could coach him to get a ware that would fit his style.

"Sure! It's great that you're making the offer!" She said. "Let's go!"

…

"So, how do I look?"

Beruka simply took off the last bandage on his face and briefly stared at Corrin. There was truth to his affirmation that the scars probably weren't all that bad since he certainly didn't look like someone who was carved up by a legendary lightning sword. Rather, it looked like he fell face-first into a bush and it left some slight marks here and there. Though one scar, on his cheek, looked larger than the others.

"…Apart from the wound on your cheek? It appears that the healing magic used on you was up to the task. That, and your quicker healing, I suppose."

"Good to know! I guess it makes me look more like a warrior!" He said, folding his arms over his chest.

"Hrm. Only a clumsy one would accumulate scars over their lifetime. Follow me."

Since he still had bandages on other spots than his face, Corrin decided to wear a shirt with longer sleeves, gloves and some pants. He didn't look exactly uncomfortable in them, even if it was seemingly unusual for him not to wear his armor. Beruka was more annoyed about him simply not wearing a cavalier's uniform, but he apparently felt like armor was unneeded for a trip. She disagreed, since she had her own uniform, but she couldn't get him to change his mind.

After leaving the room, both Beruka and Corrin opted to leave the castle through the front door, to the sole staircase that wasn't wrecked. Half of it was occupied with people leaving the castle, and the other was full of people who were going within it, usually to help with the repairs. As a result, there was quite a crowd near the front door, though even with that, they could easily spot Niles, waiting for them near the stairs that they used to reach the entrance.

"Niles?" Asked Corrin, before having a bag of gold nearly shoved into his face. He blinked and then proceeded to acquire the money.

"Oh, is that for the bet?" He said. To that, Niles's remaining eye widened slightly, and he smirk.

"I'm surprised you even remember it." Said Niles. "Somehow, most of us are still alive and kicking, so… promise fulfilled."

Corrin grinned a little, perhaps satisfied with the money (and his victory of a sort over the outlaw) and Niles walked past him, patting his right shoulder.

"Say, are you going to keep the scars? It's a killer way to get ladies." He argued, briefly looking over at Beruka with his good eye. Beruka contemplated fully blinding Niles for the briefest second.

"Oh, I think they'll heal." Answered Corrin, perhaps missing Niles's intent. The outlaw conceded defeat for this one, shrugging and walking away… though not before turning around, waving his left hand at the duo.

"Have a nice date!" He yelled. Thankfully though, Corrin simply waved back before looking at Beruka, in confusion.

"What did he mean by date?"

Her sole answer was to drag him away.

…

Macarath had been struck by the war pretty harshly, and it'd take more than two days to fix such a mess. The blue-haired duo could see it easily as they walked down the street leading up to the main stair, where people were still clearing the rubbers or packing their things to prepare to move on, before moving on to join some groups of travellers near a main place.

"Oh… some people are moving out." Said Corrin. "I hope they'll quickly find somewhere to settle."

"They should be able to do it, as long as they have the needed skills… though perhaps they are simply preparing to join the army."

Nohr was very much all about merits. If the citizens had useful skills, then Belno, the closest city, will happily greet them. If not, they will have to reside in a small forgotten town, or eventually die when a group of roaming bandits end their lives. Of course, they could also join the army. Nohr always had a place in its army for any citizen, especially revenge-driven ones.

"But… shouldn't we keep them in some kind of building while we rebuild?" Declared Corrin. Beruka simply raised an eyebrow and began to walk down the street with him, not commenting on his idea. All around them, the citizens who weren't busy were going about their daily lives, with some jumping over whatever rubble wasn't properly cleaned out yet (or furiously pointing at it to the workers).

Corrin seemed confused at that but his attention was quickly caught by a particularly sturdy piece of rubble, about nearly his size, who was currently handing out some back pains to three workers. Predictably, the Nohrian prince headed towards the rubble and engaged in a brief conversation with the men while Beruka caught up, before bending down to pick it up. To the surprise of a bunch of the crowd and the assassin, he then, on his lonesome, lifted the rubble and held it over his head, before putting it on a spot marked with chalk, away from the crowd's path.

"G-good work, milord! Thank you!" Said a worker.

"You're welcome!"

He went back to his "battle-buddy", who was admittedly struggling to keep her composure, and simply looked around, as if oblivious to the superhuman act that he performed. When they began walking down again, Beruka found herself struggling to count down the questions that she has for him.

What was that dragon form? Where did the crystal come from? What were his actual origins? Why did he struggle with killing when he was a prince of Nohr?

"You certainly are strong."

"Hm? Yeah. I've always been a bit stronger than normal. But it's actually a bother you know? When I grasp objects too hard, they break or get dented, and it's kind of hard to touch or hug people without focusing a little. Nothing that can't be solved with a bit of finesse but… you know."

"Hm. Yes, you could certainly snap someone's spine in two." Observed Beruka. "When did those abilities emerge?"

"When I was… I don't know, I always had them. But you know, Xander and Camila are strong, so I never questioned it."

"I assume that make sense." She answered, before noticing the weapon shop. Quietly pointing towards it, she then opened the door before stepping in, with Corrin stepping soon afterwards. The merchant, a man named Bertrand apparently, leered at them from behind his counter and nodded at them. He was tall, bald and had a long scar running down his face, along with a gigantic mustache that he was apparently proud of. His bushy eyebrows almost fully covered piercing brown eyes, and other than his mustache, the rest of his face was perfectly clean shaved.

"You brought a friend?"

"Yes." She answered, causing Corrin to smile a little.

"Hello mister! I'm here to visit your shop."

"Well yes, why els… wait, is that Lord Corrin?!"

Bertrand almost leapt over his counter and approached the prince, causing the latter to freeze up in surprise. After briefly observing the prince up close, the Nohrian nodded and took a few steps backward.

"Well shit, you're making friends in high place, Ber!"

"Don't call me that." She said. "I need to buy weapons. I shall come to you once I have procured enough equipment."

"Alright, erm, Lord Corrin, I want to thank you for saving our city from the Hoshidians! You did it with a little force here, I think, but it made it easier for the army!"

"Oh, it was nothing, it… well it wasn't nothing but, thanks! Huh, keep being you!"

Bertrand went back behind his counter, and Beruka grabbed Corrin by the wrist to get him deeper in the shop, just in case someone else would enter.

"He knows you?"

"Yes. I shop here when I visit Macarath… as a Nohrian soldier." She answered, whispering the latter. When it came to assassination matter, she never used her name or even face. Too risky. Too easy for other assassins though, she'd know.

"Hm… alright. So, err, let's shop! Huh, let's see… this."

Corrin grabbed the weapon next to him and took it in his hand. It was a long straight-forward blade, of Mokushujin design. The long wooden handle of the blade was covered in bandages, and there was no guard for the sword, beyond some bandages at the very beginning of the bladed part. The blade itself was long and very sharp, almost curved, like all good weapons of that nation.

"Seems straightforward."

Corrin's hand moved over a little trigger on the side of the blade, and Beruka's hand shot out, quickly grabbing the weapon and turning it to the right, just in time for a new blade to sprout of the other end of the handle, nearly piercing through the dragon prince. The blue-haired man glanced down at the sword, in surprise, and Beruka simply actioned the trigger again, the blade promptly retracting back at her command.

"… What was that?"

"It's a Dathomir. It's a double-bladed weapon." Said Beruka, a bit irritated. "The second blade is meant to surprise the enemy but some fools use it to fight foes head-on, even when the sword's design make it easy for one to accidentally cut or impale themselves on it."

"I bet it's deadly in the right hands."

"Yes. It isn't for you."

Corrin admittedly looked a little hurt as Beruka proceeded to put her weapon back in its little shelf. Seeing his distress, the assassin looked over at the other blades, and noticed a Hoshidian one, causing her to curiously pick it up. It looked like one of those katanas that they took to battle, but the blade itself was much longer, to the point where just an inch longer would make it quite impractical… and, as Niles may say, a damning evidence of the owner having something to compensate.

She couldn't really care about what Niles would have to say though.

"Hm? You've picked up Hoshidian swords, Bertrand."

"Well, those bastards took my weapons away when they invaded!" He answered from behind the counter. "So when they got chased out, I helped myself with some of their stuff."

"It's a Daito." Commented Corrin. "It's their equivalent of a longsword back there. It's less practical than a Katana, but it's got a longer reach. It was probably carried by an officer."

"Right. Such a weapon could be cumbersome to wield in battle but I can see its uses, perhaps."

"You're right. So I may wield…"

He looked over at a Steel Sword but his eyes eventually focused on a Brave Sword. A weapon of most odd design, but perhaps he simply thought that being weird-looking made it more powerful than others.

"It's lighter than other swords, so it can attack quicker… or at least, that's what Xander said."

"Lord Xander taught you about weapons?"

"Yeah. He argued that I should know what I'll be fighting with in the future, so I spent a good chunk of my childhood looking over at weapons!" He declared. "Both Hoshidians and Nohrians!"

"Interesting." She murmured, looking around. "I never thought of you as a fan of weapons."

"Well, they do take lives… but I can appreciate the aesthetic, I guess."

Beruka looked down at the ground and then pointed at a nearby axe, with a large jagged blade.

"That's a Killer Axe. If you focus on your strength, it can be extremely strong. Some say that it can occasionally throw back the damage right at you if you miss, but that's a legend… I hope."

The assassin nodded once and pointed at a red, almost demonic-looking spear, with two "horns" instead of a single straight blade.

"I think… that's an hexlock spear. It makes one far less vulnerable to magic attacks, erm, do you mind if I buy it?"

"That's your money." Answered Beruka. "You know more about weapons than I thought."

"Yeah… well, not about the Dathomir, as you can see!"

"… Yes. Hm…"

She glanced at Bertrand, who was busy cleaning a knife somewhere. Good.

"I apologize for offending you earlier." She said. "Perhaps my comment about your ability to wield it was displaced."

"Oh, don't worry! You did prevent me from having yet another wound to patch up so soon after my awakening!" He indicated. "And beside, hm… can I be honest?"

"Yes."

"I kind of like people being blunt to me. I… I was often coddled a little. And, I mean, it's nice but having someone to ground me help me, you know? It prevents me from accidentally messing up and all that."

"I see… I often assumed that Azura assumed that role."

"Azura? You're right, but I think you're a bit quicker to say it… by the way, where is she?"

"Ask her after she's done running back to you." Answered Beruka, moving to acquire a small nearby axe. She could recognize it as a tomahawk, a throwing axe of a sort. She tended to have some on her, just in case.

"Oh, those can kind of… be thrown in a way where they curve back at the target, I heard."

"Yes." She answered. "I'm surprised you know."

"Camilla liked to make demonstrations with those. I… I found them really funny as a kid."

Beruka shrugged and acquired another weapon. A regular steel axe, not something complicated, agreeable in how simple it was.

After taking their weapons, Corrin went first to the counter, taking Niles's gold and laying it across the bar. Bertrand briefly took the time to check out the weapons before taking the coins, leaving more than Beruka expected.

"Hm. I thought it'd cost more."

"Welp, you saved the city, so you saved my business, so I owe it." He said. "Beside, it's Nohr, people buy swords before anything else!"

"Thank you! But, erm, if I have a question… aren't you afraid that people will steal your weapons? I'm curious…"

"I spear them to the wall." He replied, tapping a nearby javelin. Corrin briefly shivered in answer.

"I… I see."

…

"You could've simply let me carry them."

"No, don't worry, it's fine! And beside, well, you just saw me easily carry a huge debris right? Some weapons can't be bad." Argued Corrin, attempting to walk around with the bag that he found himself carrying on his back. "Anyway, erm… what do you want to do now?"

"Return to the castle and train… unless you have something to do."

"Hm… yeah! I'm probably going to need to pick-up a book if you don't mind. Hey, we could even buy one for you if you want!"

"If we find a bookstore that is."

"I'm sure there should be one around." He said. And he was wrong about that for at least five minutes, the duo slowly making their way through the crowd as they went along. The more they dwelled amongst the citizen, the more Beruka could see that future travellers groups were increasing in size, to the point where Macarath would probably find itself with far less citizens by the end of the war.

And some of them were probably leaving because Corrin accidentally smashed into houses as a dragon.

Nohr was war-like yet surprisingly fragile. Should a city get damaged, then a lot of its citizens will find themselves needing to leave, since their fellow Nohrians won't house them for free, or join the army to get their revenge on whoever destroyed their home in the first place. They've gotten lucky this far, but should Hoshido's offensive go farther the next time, then more citizens will find themselves roaming an harsh land filled with desperate bandits.

Beruka simply gleaned at them though. It simply wasn't her problem. Thus, she simply turned her eyes away from the crowd to contemplate Corrin as he pointed at a red store.

"I've found one!"

"Go ahead then."

The prince opened the door and went inside, with Beruka following suit once Corrin figured out how to angle the bag just right to get inside properly. This allowed him to stumble into a store similar to the weapon shop from earlier but more barren. Perhaps because most of the shelves were empty, with only a few books being left here and there. The owner, a thin, tall old man with long hair and a trimmed beard, stood behind the counter, seemingly surprised that people would even enter his shop.

"O-oh, hell… wait, are you Lord Corrin?"

"Y-yes." He answered. "What happened to your store?"

"The Hoshidians burned my books." He answered, anger rising in his voice. "After they took over, they said that our books only spread lies, so they rounded them up and threw them in that massive fire on the roof of the building!"

"That's despicable!" Answered Corrin, thoroughly shocked. "I… I'm sorry, sir, we weren't here to protect you."

"Well, you did fend them off, right? You used that… dragon vein near the city to blow them away and then the rest of you rolled in to finish off those rats."

"A dragon vein?"

Beruka lightly hit him in the arm with her elbow.

"Yeah! I used a dragon vein near the city to kill a bunch of Hoshidians to death! But, erm, I did some damage too…"

"Perhaps, but any true Nohrian would rather die than let their city get taken over by a rival country."

Corrin seemed disturbed at that, but moved on.

"Anyway, hm… I see that you still have some books, do you mind if I get some?"

"I wouldn't put them on my shelves otherwise. I hid them from those rats so that some youngsters can get them and learn after all." He explained. "If they all get sold, well, I'll be content. So don't hesitate to get as much as you can."

Beruka, who has been silently standing in the background, headed out towards the remaining books. Most of them seemed uninteresting to her, and she struggled to see why anyone would even bother wasting their time engaging in reading when they could be training or sharpening their weapons or bodies. If it weren't for the sake of her "battle-buddying", she'd already be back to the castle by now.

Corrin proved to be much less hesitant on this one, simply picking up a copy of _A Mystery In Nestra_.

"Do you need help with the books, Beruka?"

"No." She said, unwilling to take help yet. Instead, she plucked a book called _History of Nohr_, skillfully making it look like she considered her choice instead of simply plucking the closest tome. The book's cover was fitting for its country : Dark, barren and straight-to-the-point. The title slightly stood above the Nohrian emblem, in the middle of the cover, with the name of the author written below it.

It was pretty heavy. A good blow with it could probably crush a skull. Noteworthy observation for later.

By contrast, Corrin's book was smaller and had a shifty masked character in the foreground, holding a bloody weapon and making a shushing gesture at the reader. In the background, there was a lush depiction of Nestra and its famous opera. Beruka hoped that this was supposed to be how assassins were perceived by common people, for it would certainly make her job a lot easier if people associated them with obviously untrustworthy people.

Corrin paid for the books (once more leaving more than he should) and began to leave, though the merchant attempted to sneak in a last word.

"Hum… Lord Corrin, huh, if you and the lady could speak of my shop to others, it'd be great!"

"Of course! I'll do so immediately!"

And with that, they were off.

…

"Lord Corrin, greetings and thank you for helping to save the city!"

"Hey! Thanks for the greetings! There's a sweet book shop that you should visit down the street if you have the time!"

"Erm, of course, I shall visit it!"

Corrin happily waved away at the incoming soldier and entered the castle, with a somewhat irritated Beruka stalking him like a shadow. He had taken the man's demands to the heart, having stopped several times over to invite people to visit the shop. This annoyed her, if only because she couldn't really care about the plight of an old man.

A difference between her and Corrin : He had his heart on his sleeve. That's how she'd describe it. He had his secrets but otherwise, he was easy to identify as a person, and was different from the Nohrians she met until now in that aspect. Camilla was skilled at hiding her ruthlessness beneath a motherly façade and Elise's cheerfulness was going to die out soon enough, but even as a young man, the prince simply happened to be a good person, though perhaps naïve and awkward.

Though when it came to it, his tenacity was very Nohrian's. It's just that he seemed reluctant to embrace it at times, which was confusing for her. She would certainly use the great physical gifts bestowed on her efficiently instead of holding back.

She couldn't deny that she was somewhat intrigued at his niceness, but that wild side of his, the one that came out when the situation was dire, also managed to grab her curiosity.

After reaching his room, Corrin closed the door behind them.

"Did you think I spoke to enough people about it?"

Beruka grunted. "I think you spoke about it to _too many _people."

"You're right, I…"

Corrin froze, and Beruka decided to grab a weapon, fearing that they were about to get ambushed by a ninja or another assassin. Luckily for them though, it was only Yato's sheath, tied to a chair with a small red rope. The young prince deftly put down his bag and then headed towards Yato, looking over at it.

"Hm… who could've done that?" He asked.

"Perhaps the Mokushujin did it. They are quite stealthy after all."

"The moku… ah, you told me."

Beruka considered her theory briefly. Zakuul and their "friends" vanished after the Hoshidians were pushed back, and they probably wouldn't be hanging around as a result. And the Nohrians that found the weapon would likely bring it for them or wait for their return, making it unlikely that it was a Nohrian as well. In the assassin's mind, the last possibility, a Hoshidian trap, briefly appeared in her mind. Like the wind, the assassin swiftly moved to try and acquire the sheath before he could grab it, but he already pulled the sword out of it and…

Revealed a regular Yato. There was no trap, apparently, even if Beruka almost nervously checked the sheath to ensure that there wouldn't be an hidden threat just waiting to be unleashed.

A little laugh escaped Corrin's lips as he slashed at the air with the weapon. "Whoah… hey, Beruka, look, it's Yato! It's…"

The young woman turned around when his voice faltered, and was nearly as shocked as Corrin when she noticed what made him stop in his tracks.

Yato has a large gash on it, caused by another sword of a sort. It was so large that she could see Corrin's eye peering through it during his inspection of the sword.

"What could've caused such a gash?" She asked, attempting to reach for the sword. He allowed her to grab it, for better inspection, perhaps hoping that her skills with weapons would somehow allow her to repair the weapon. And while a common sword could perhaps be fixed by a blacksmith, the young woman was rather ignorant of the way old divine weapons could be repaired after taking damage, and it was doubtful that they could find a blacksmith with the knowledge to fix it… especially after murdering the one person who'd recognize the problem.

"Ryoma, when he… when he defeated me." Began Corrin, his breath quickening with each second. "He sent it flying out of my hand with Raijinto and it must've been damage by that!"

"Yes… only a divine weapon could damage another."

Corrin softly whispered a series of "no, no, no" and sat down on his bed. His earlier cheerfulness was completely gone, replaced with almost manic despair. Beruka stared at him and, unlike the old man, actually felt empathy. Or at least, she imagined that the death grip on her stomach was sadness and not a sign that pulling Yato out of its sheath released some manner of deadly poison.

She took a few steps forward but approaching noises made her reconsider, and she quickly sheathed the sword, while Corrin decided to quickly wipe away whatever tears he started to form, burying his newfound doubts and despair beneath his smile.

"C-come in!" He said, and Azura was already in the room by the time he was done with his sentence, quickly approaching Corrin to embrace slash slam into him. Beruka stared, with widened eyes, but Corrin merely looked a bit surprised, blinking repeatedly without really grasping what was happening. Since words weren't working, he opted to pat Azura in the back, attempting to smile for her.

"Oof!" He said. "Be careful, my wounds might reopen if you run at me this hard!"

"I… I know." Answered Azura. "I'm sorry, Corrin, I was… occupied at Macarath and I only heard of your awakening recently. May you find it in yourself to forgive me for…"

"No worries, Azura." He began, repeating it once to try and make himself heard. "I'm fine. Thanks to everyone here!"

Speaking of everyone, Beruka walked to the door glanced at the halls, spotting, amongst others, the likes of Silas or Arthur approaching, along with… quite a lot of more common Nohrian soldiers, surprisingly. Far from optimal, since he probably wouldn't put forth a good conversation when surrounded by so many people. Her questions would have to wait, for now.

"… I'll be going. I need to feed Sirius."

"Huh? Alright… see you later, Beruka!" He said, waving, unaware of the crowd that was about to burst in his room. The assassin nodded, quickly grabbed her own stuff, and walked out of the room. Artur noticed her quickly though, and turned around, waving…

And she opted to ignore him for now, not even bothering with turning around. The assassin melded into the crowd and soon vanished.

…

**N/A : **Not much happening, but I can't really have action all the time! Next chapters should be heavy on it though.

Beruka and Corrin have their second "date" of a sort, even if they're still a bit awkward around each other. Her blowing off Arthur could come off as rude but it's too early in the story for her to buddy-buddy with other people by that point, and she's only really interested in speaking with Corrin.

I've sneaked a reference in there, I might not do that too often in the future since it's kind of distracting, haha!

How was the chapter? I greatly appreciate the reviews that I've gotten and I welcome more of those!

Romeoraiden : Yup! I like this headcanon where Corrin is for Nohr and Kamui for Hoshido. And thanks for the comment! I kinda liked writing the fight scene between Corrin and Ryoma. Let's see how well the latter will do at the rematch !

2lagy2login : Thanks! This is much appreciated!

See you soon!


	10. The voyage to Cheve

« How is it Corrin?"

Corrin glanced at his reflection in the mirror, somewhat embarrassed. Not about the armor that he was wearing (he was quite content with it), but because the eyes of several people, including Camilla and Elise, were on him, eagerly observing his slightest movements.

That new armor of his was, fittingly enough for Nohr, black in color scheme, even if some parts of it were still white. Out of concern apparently, the new armor was a bit bulkier than the other, especially on the knee, stomach and chest. He also wore new clawed gloves, similar to Camilla's own, and had shoes as well (which was apparently the most difficult part for the dragon prince). Camilla really, really didn't want him to ever get badly beaten again, which was understandable from a normal point of view, perhaps.

Corrin's strength made it easy for the young man to move around it though, and after a few seconds, he seemed to be happy enough with the armor, even if he recoiled slightly when he moved his finger to scratch the tip of his nose, realizing up-close just how sharp the claws were.

"Erm… it's good. It looks a bit, erm, intimidating though!"

"Oh, that's fine dear! You'll put the fear of Nohr into the hearts of those Hoshidians while battling!" She said. "We will have your old armor and are repairing it though, but please, keep that one so that I won't get worried when you run into the enemy, hmm?"

"Alright. If it can help me, then it's good."

"You sure look cool big bro! Don't be shy! There's even a white cape just for you! I made it to contrast with all that dark!"

Corrin looked back at his white cape before staring at Elise to smile at her.

"Haha, thanks Elise!" He said, patting her on the head. "Alright, with his new armor, I feel like I could take on the world!"

"Excellent! But instead of the world, we'll be facing Cheve!" Answered Camilla, shooing away the non-royals from her room. Most of her belongings had been emptied in anticipation for the trip, leaving only a mirror for her to see Corrin's brand new armor. "We'll have to put down an uprising."

"Don't worry, I've been informed, but… put down?" Said Corrin, who was kneeling next to Elise to let her fix his collar. "Does that mean that we…"

"Well, we're simply told to "ensure that Cheve may no longer pose a threat", and while I would certainly _love _to simply deal this problem with diplomacy and other wonderful things… well, most of the time, revolutions tend to be dealt with pretty violently, especially in Nohr!"

"Right… well, I still hope that we'll be able to solve this peacefully. Hm… I'm going to prepare my stuff. See you soon!"

"See you Corrin! Don't trip on your cape!" Warned Elise towards the departing Corrin. The young man, upon exiting the door, turned around to close it… and turned right back around to better be surprised by Beruka, who was now standing in front of him, leaning against the wall with her arms folded. Her expression was, as always with her, unreadable but she was carefully analyzing his armor. Once satisfied, she approached, unfolding her arms.

"How is the armor?"

"It's… nice." He said. "I feel safer with it. I think it'll prevent me from getting badly wounded again."

"You could still be hit on the head." She warned, tapping the top of her head.

"You're right, perhaps I'll pick up an helmet." He said to himself. "Huh, anyway, how have you been doing?" Concluded Corrin, as they began walking down the halls. "You weren't here yesterday night."

She still struggled with the idea of being seeked out. Beruka always consumed her rations in silence, well away from the crowd. Camilla tried to have her dine at the table at times but Beruka rarely spoke and always retreated after consuming enough nutriments to carry on the tasks that awaited her. Camilla all but gave up inviting her retainer to dine with her until recently, and even then, she was content with allowing her to sustain herself somewhere else from the group.

The idea that he'd seek her meant that her tranquil routine was threatened once more, but as long as this was only him perhaps (and Azura, who was outright mute when the situation wasn't asking for it), then she was ready to accept her situation.

"I dislike consuming food with other people."

"Well, that's fair." He admitted, to her surprise. "You know, I always ate with people I knew, and it was always a little… controlled, so I always get a bit anxious when we gather together to eat because there's always Odin yelling about the food, Arthur always manage to poison himself, it's… wild." Continued Corrin. "I mean, it's fun.. well maybe not when Arthur eat something that's incredibly venomous by accident, but… well, it overwhelms me sometimes."

Beruka looked to her right and left.

"You could use that crystal ball."

"It's kinda lonely at times."

"Hm… Then perhaps in the interest of battle-buddying, you and that girl may join me for dinner later." She said, closing her eyes in resignation. "Though I will need to find a new place to hide in. Thus, we shall do once we reach a new destination to briefly settle in."

He babbled something in answer and Beruka briefly opened her left eye to stare at him.

"I mean… thanks, Beruka. I appreciate how much you're trying to make the battle buddying experience work!"

"You're welcome."

Of course, her motivation was not simply to sit down and eat. She wanted to have an occasion to ask him questions about his powers and the nature of the gifts that he had, and while she could ask in a regular conversation, she wasn't sure that someone else wouldn't interfere. Thus, a private setting was obviously the better choice to ensure that they wouldn't receive interferences. And while Azura could perhaps try (Beruka suspected that she knew much more than she let on), the assassin hoped to be close enough to Corrin for him to speak with her.

It wasn't a matter of reporting to Camilla or to someone higher on the hierarchy though. She just didn't appreciate being in the dark about such useful powers. The assassin liked to keep tabs on her allies, and while she perhaps wasn't a social butterfly, she trained herself well to know a target's strong and weak points. Corrin was easy to identify but the few blanks in his "file" needed an explanation, a point from which the assassin could jump to form theories and see what kind of rare mutation he managed to unlock.

…

Corrin's army left Macarath hours ago. While most soldiers were back to moving around using horses or wagons, some black wagons were also available, even if some were meant strictly to hold weapons, equipment and food. The young man was leading his army from his horse, in an attempt to get closer to his troops. This allowed Beruka to put a brief end to the interactions she had with him and focus back on some matters at hands.

Such as interrogation.

"Alright, one last time for the purple lady." Asked Niles, pointing at Camilla. "And you'll be free to sulk."

Kaze, still chained to the wall, chuckled. "Oh, considering that I'm left alone usually, I am quite enjoying the company I'm getting right now."

Beruka observed him from her spot in the "red room" located within the wrld , named such because of its crimson color, apparently created by the blood of the numerous people tortured to death within its entrails, boasted the merchant who sold the vehicle to the army. Or, as she deduced quickly, apparently created by the red paint that was applied all over it to try and build a false legend.

While it'd normally house supplies, those were in another room, to prevent some sabotage from Kaze. It was only her, Nyx, Niles and Camilla herself.

"… Cheve will receive help from Hoshido." He said. "Yukimura knew of its relationship with Nohr, and decided to lend an hand to the rebels."

"Come on now, Cheve isn't that strong. Unless you had a good chunk of the Hoshidian army backing it up, it would have no chance breaking through the border war." Said Niles. "Unless…"

"Yes. Not unless the Nohrian army found itself distracted." Said Kaze. "Macarath was meant to be a siege that'd attract a large chunk of the Nohrian army, if not all of it. This would allow the troops at Cheve to provoke an uprising, breach through the wall and begins an attack."

"You'd lack the manpower and strength to take over a city." Answered Beruka, before realizing what they meant. "Unless you intended to spread chaos into the countryside."

"Yes. Nohrian cities are mighty. Macarath was a stalemate even with a huge offending force until the arrival of L… of Ryoma, for instance, and even Port Dia resisted to a full-out attack even with... Takumi leading. However, the smaller towns of Nohr would make more vulnerable targets."

"So you gut some starved peasant and burn his crop, huh? The more you talk, the more I find Hoshidian "honor" to be a joke. You guys really are as underhanded as us when you feel threatened."

"Correct, mister Niles. This plan has caused me to gain doubt about our cause. Innocent peasants would die, crops would burn and sabotages would strike the Nohrian army. This would weaken the army sent to intercept Ryoma, and they wouldn't be able to easily get the Chevois and Hoshidian troops in their field."

"… Smart." Said Beruka. "Nohr is so fragile that those sabotages would certainly cause great damage to it. However… Ryoma was beaten at Macarath and the Nohrian army is cleaning up whatever presence remains in the country. An uprising is only going to be a bother at this point, especially because of the rat catchers scattered all over Nohr. There is no point to it."

"You're correct, milady."

"Do not call me that."

"… You're correct, Beruka, but I fear that Lord Takumi's uprising is intentional."

"Takumi?" Asked Camilla.

"Yes. He was supposed to destroy Port Dia to weaken Nohr's navy and then join Macarath, but you fended him off. In his message to Hinoka, he said that he was going to Cheve to participate in the revolution. The task was meant to be handled by other individuals but alas, he couldn't be stopped."

"I guess the ships were too wrecked to go back to Hoshido… he must've been quick on foot after landing though. Cheve's not exactly close to the sea. I guess he just doesn't know about Ryoma eating the dirt at Macarath too."

"He probably doesn't care." Said Beruka. "He… he wants Corrin's attention, I feel."

"What do you mean?" Said Nyx, who had been silent for a moment, focusing on a spell to unleash at Kaze should be slip free out of his chains.

"Takumi probably want to get Corrin to come to Cheve to kill him. He seems to hate him quite a lot after all." She said. "From his point of view, this will attract his attention, and he'll come to Cheve to die at the hands of his brother. Simple."

Camilla frowned before speaking up. "And what about other Nohrians? Corrin isn't the only one going around the continent."

"He'd kill them."

"I'm afraid Beruka is right." Said Kaze. "Takumi, after Lord Corrin's departure, has made his hatred for him very clear within Hoshido. And Cheve was a turning point in his life too. Perhaps he wish to strike down Corrin at the spots where Kamui, his true brother, "died", taken by the Nohrian."

"Leave it to the Hoshidians to form their strategy about symbolism." Groaned Niles. "Alright so… Takumi's at Cheve. Who's with him?"

"A young woman named Scarlet, she encountered diplomats from Hoshido months ago, and was told to prepare for the escalation of the war. She prepared her forces in waiting, and here we are." He finished.

"Alright… good enough! Well then, I shall warn Corrin!"

"Wait!"

Camilla, who was just about to turn around, stylishly performed a dramatic spin. If anything, more than her strength, she could respect how Camilla made all of the gestures look prepared and elegant.

"I've given you the informations that you've required. I do believe that I have earned the right to work alongside you, am I right?"

"Oh my poor green boy. While Corrin's friends are my friends as well… I cannot let you go so easily! You may decide to wander near a bunch of Hoshidians and, by pure accident, gossip with them!"

"A most prudent idea, but I am entirely loyal to Corrin." He answered. At that point, a small cough interrupted Kaze, and all eyes on the room turned towards Nyx, who stood up from her seat to raise her arm. Before anyone could ask what spell she was cooking up, the "young" sorceress walked up to Kaze to slap him in the ribs. Most would perhaps ask what she was doing, but they knew that the sorceress had unique abilities, and simply awaited for the spell that she had to trigger.

And it did, though Beruka's trained sight barely managed to spot the purple fabric on Kaze's clothing before it faded.

"I've been developing this ever since the boat." Explained Nyx. "Sir Kaze. Should your blade prepare to end a Nohrian life, or should most treacherous informations attempt to escape your lips to reach an enemy's ears, then this spell shall ensure failure in both."

"How convenient." Said Niles. "You just happen to have this spell, hm?"

"As I said, I have been preparing it for a while. However, controlling a person's body like that is quite hard, and not something that I really want to do." She admitted. "But he could be of tremendous help."

Kaze slipped out of the bonds restraining him in the background and stretched his limbs, causing Niles to briefly stop to gaze in surprise. Beruka, however, refused to show her surprise, preferring yet another armfold accompanied by a gaze at the opposite direction.

"Oh Nyx, I truly appreciate your spells! But will you be able to maintain the spell?"

"Yes. It's fueled by the magic around it. Should Kaze wish to escape, he'll find that my spell will track him even if he decide to sail to the edge of the world."

"But thankfully, that theory shall never be verified, for I shall fight amongst you."

"Hm… we'll see about that."

…

The outer gate to Nohr was built after the first Qliphoth invasion of the country, though it also provided protection against previous Chevois uprising or large bandit groups. It was a most impressive structure, and all over the continent, it was said that breaking through it would require an attack from the other major force of the country, Hoshido. And even then, it would be a most costly deployment.

Passing through it was easy for a group that included three royals though, as one could see by the behavior of Daniela.

"It is of most honor for me to help the army of Nohr, especially after your most noted performance at Macarath!"

"Hm, yes Daniela." Said the eldest princess of the dusk country, dismissively waving her hand. "You may stop groveling."

"Of course! Of course! Apologies! However, if it doesn't bother you milady, I may…I may need to report troublesome news, none of which are from me of course!"

Daniela snapped her fingers, and a knight clumsily ran in, holding a letter in his massive armored hands, quickly handing it over to Camilla before running back to his spot. The odd woman glared at the fleeing soldier's back, certainly not appreciating the fact that the news wasn't delivered more swiftly. Regardless, she easily switched back to her pleasant demeanor, putting her hands behind her back and awaiting for Camilla to read the letter.

"… Father is going through Cheve?" Asked Camilla.

"Y-yes! It's of most surprise! He… he decided to take the shortest path to Nestra! Which, I bet, is a most enlightened decision! It does mean that he would be… quite displeased to be interrupted by some rowdy rebels!"

"Those rowdy rebels are your responsibility." Interrupted Camilla. "You're not meant to wait for the enemy to come knocking at the door, darling."

In the background, troops and wagons passed through the wall, making their way over to the next part of the voyage. Elise wasn't there, since there wasn't much "fun" in negotiations, but Camilla's younger brother opted to come assist her just in case. He came to regret his decision, judging by the obvious signs of boredom on him, but Camilla appreciated nonetheless.

"Y-yes, well… I do have a good new! Wait, two! So first off, I'll send two of my elite guards to accompany you! They're quirky but competent!"

"Oh dear." Said Camilla. "And what about the other good new?"

"Well, Hans, the most prestigious captain of our time, is also headed for Cheve! And in fact... he's right there, having waited for you!"

"That'd be right."

Deploying some impressive hiding skills for a brute, Hans emerged out of the shadows, a false pleasant smile on his face.

"It's been a little while, milords!" He said. "Hope you didn't miss me too much while we were busy fighting!"

"Hans! You… you…"

Beruka, who had been standing a few feet away, looked at Corrin. The young man was quite obviously angry with the presence of the captain, looking over at him with furious anger and almost gripping the handle of his sword. A most displeasing idea, since it'd show to everyone in the room that Yato had been damaged, but Beruka couldn't intervene so easily, especially in front of everyone!

"Huh? M-milord, is there something wrong?" Asked Daniela, a bit confused.

"G-gunter! You… you threw him off the bridge at the Bottomless Canyon! And you…"

"Ohhh, right! My most sincerest apologies milord! Those were my less experienced days, when I blindly attacked foes and allies. I have matured now!" He apologized, trying to contain a most wide grin. "It is most unfortunate that Gunter was accidentally struck by me but I promise you that he would prefer dying like that over old age, as the true Nohrian that he was!"

"Hm, Corrin, listen to the bald man." Said Camilla, putting her hand on Corrin's shoulder. "We will need to talk about this later, Hans, but for now, we have a clear enemy. There's no point in fighting one another!"

"I am not surprised for such wisdom to come out of your fine lips, milady! But if it any consolation Lord Corrin, you truly impressed me at Macarath, single-handedly taking on the enemy prince at Macarath and all that! In your honor, perhaps I'll think about Gunter before murdering another elder!"

The prince sighed but backed down for now. Nothing he could do against Hans, who was, according to rumors, quite favored of Garon, to the point where even a royal couldn't hope to harm him without attracting the wrath of their father.

"Alright! We'll head out in two different formations. I'll handle half of Cheve, and huh… you handle the other half. Soon as you spot a rebel, you execute 'em. Hell, burn the whole town if you want. King Garon doesn't want to see a single rebel by the time he pass through it."

"I see… of course, though, we'll wait before doing anything rash, hm?"

"If you wish! But if a single rebel come at me, I'm gonna make an example out of them!"

Corrin fumed silently in his spot, and Camilla herself looked noticeably confused by her father's decision.

Originally, he was going to visit the town of Bordal, in the east, where people were much more fond of Nohr. While she knew about his fondness for Nestra, Camilla couldn't anticipate that the King would, in a time of war, visit a dangerous area to have his opera-time, even his country was still dealing with the war that he's been brewing for decades. But in Nohr, the King or Queen was always right, and thus, none of the soldiers dared to raise any objection.

"Well, how much time do we have?"

"Oh, about three days! Luckily, Cheve shouldn't be that far! And it wouldn't take long to kill the rebels!"

"Oh well. See you soon Hans." Said Camilla, dragging Corrin away.

…

No need to be a social person to know that Corrin was upset. Beruka could tell just by his body language and how he barely answered whenever people talked to him. Oh, he wasn't rude, since at this point the assassin was confident that his siblings had taught him not a single swear word, but he always ended his conversations quickly before going back to sulk on his horse.

Even the news of Kaze's "freedom" barely seemed to wake him out of his torpor. And thus, the task to greet the two newcomers was currently being helmed by the other members of the Nohrian army, most of whom were desperately trying to fit in the black wagon where Kaze was once being interrogated. Since it was deemed wasteful to keep that space empty, a lot of rations and weapons were stored there. And Arthur had a knack for accidentally sitting on a spear that was accidentally left pointing upright.

"I… I'm just an innocent little border guard, oh nooooo." Said Charlotte, between bouts of crying. "You know, I… I accidentally startled a cute little squirrel once when I sneezed, and… ohh, the sight of that poor thing caused me so much guilt! If I were to fight, I am sure that I would freeze and be easily defeated, I would need some big strong rich man to hel-"

"Then you are worthless to the cause." Said Beruka, quickly writing on a note. "I trust that you know how to handle cooking, for that will likely be your job from now on."

"What the fu-I mean… oh, but since it is for the King, then I will overcome my trauma and fight!"

"Huh, what were you about to say?" Say Felicia.

"Fudge! It's an… expression in South Nohr. It's to refer to a, huh, state of confusion."

"Is that so? I grew up in the south and we never say that." Began Silas, eager to encounter someone from the south. "Rather, we say-"

"Oh it's a western expression, haha, what a fudge! Anyway, I shall fight for the glory of Nohr and overcome my guilt!" Concluded Charlotte, raising her fist up in the head. Silence greeted her, even if Felicia and Silas promptly attempted to clap to cheer her up.

"Cool." Said Niles.

"And what about the big guy?" Said Peri, pointing at said "big guy", a giant named Benny.

"Hm… I'll do what you expect me to do and fight." He said. "I can take a hit and dish out one but I may not be able to really move around the battlefield efficiently, heavy armor and all."

"Let's team up then! We'll hold the line for days!" Boasted the pink knight, Effie. "We'll be our army's shields!" The other, less-skilled knights, though, took a little while before raising their own spears, with at least one accidentally piercing the roof of the wagon.

"That'd be nice." Said Benny, smiling sweetly. It contrasted rather oddly with his size and face. "Let's team up."

Beruka simply crossed his name on the list, and briefly reviewed the three names written down in the "battle buddy" list : Kaze, Charlotte and Benny. The names of some of the remaining people in the army, be it her fellow retainers, royals notable soldiers or more common troops, were present on the right side of the page. Lines tying each name (for instance, right now, Beruka drew a line between Benny and Effie's names), and while they were numerous for Charlotte, Benny had far less, and Kaze had none.

Which was fine : She wanted to keep an eye on the ninja herself, which is why she tied his name to hers. This made him her second "teammate".

Selena clapped her hands. "Alright, scatter and go mingle with your friends!" In answer, everyone promptly scattered, leaving the wagon. Beruka was the only one to remain behind, simply sitting on a chair after quickly tossing her list at Selena. The redhead caught it in mid-flight, and simply shrugged, not even asking the assassin what her plan was.

She did bother turning around though. "Hey, Beru, I-…"

"Beruka."

"I added you to my list of battle buddies, will make… damnit, I really hate saying "battle buddy". Anyway, since we're fellow retainers and all, it'd be neat if we actually started to know one another!"

"… I already have two of those."

"Well, I've got far more to juggle with, so I'm being pretty lenient allowing you to just get those three!" She said. "I'm going to hang out with Laslow but once we're done with Cheve, let's hang out!"

"If you insist. Now close that door."

"You could've said yes!"

Selena closed the door, and Beruka allowed the darkness to seep in the room, almost completely blinding her. To make up for her reduced vision, her other senses began working overboard though. She could already hear the soldiers walking around the wagon, but now she could also hear the clanking of armor, or the grunts of a soldier who found himself carrying a weapon that was perhaps a bit too heavy, or even the chatter outside between two soldiers, relating to the weather ("why even ask that? It always sucks, it's Nohr." wisely say the second soldier).

The slight breathing of the other person in the wagon.

"Kaze, reveal yourself."

A voice answered in the darkness. "How sharp." Said Kaze, revealing himself by making a most acrobatic voice from his hiding spot to the middle of the room. "Your senses are truly accurate, miss Beruka."

"... Your sneaking is notable." She answered. "Why would you hide for it?" Asked Beruka, already knowing the answer.

"I take it that the army wouldn't trust me very much. I do not plan on hiding all the time though." He said, chuckling wisely. "I shall accomplish a feat of loyalty beforehand. This will prove the purity of my intentions."

"Good."

Silence settled in.

"… We share professions, it appears."

"Not quite. Ninjas are deployed to collect intelligence, damage enemy infrastructure, provide reconnaissance or even protect influential persons. You are right that they may sometimes be tasked to kill said influential persons, but this is merely a part of the work." Answered Kaze, raising the fingers of his hands with each task. "But I can see your point. Nohrian assassins are famous. I can guarantee that even the likes of us shinobis pale in comparison to the Scarlet Blade or l'Ombre."

"Amusing that you would mention those as great assassins."

"Why so?"

"They died because they were famous and stuck to a method." Said Beruka. "Once they've made enough noise to become target themselves, other assassins were able to outmatch them. Scarlet Blade's swordmanship proved fruitless when confronted against an hex, and l'Ombre's reliance on his shadows proved to be his downfall when his killer lured him into a trap made to take away that advantage."

"So, you would argue that they were ultimately overrated in the end?"

"No, but they grew complacent. They made a name and a reputation. An assassin may not want to abide by those." She said. "Greater assassins aren't quite sought out. If there is a contract on a target, the client will accept any proposal, as long as they are successful. If someone is desperate enough to ask for an assassin, then they are desperate enough to accept multiple. Barring a certain discretion, of course."

"I see… So, by making a name for themselves, one only ever paints a big target on their back, ironically enough."

"Yes. And they also stuck to the same style each time, to make themselves known. A good assassin doesn't pick the same method each time. He uses whatever method is the most efficient after analyzing the situation. Theatrics are useless. It is the property of mages." She continued. "What the client care about is a dead target. And a stab in the back at the right moment, at the right spot, does just that."

Kaze smiled slightly before folding his arms. "I would agree."

"Why are you smiling?"

"Nothing." He lied, before choosing to be honest. "Well, if I may be blunt, I am simply agreeably surprised that you are engaging in a dialogue with me. I wasn't expecting to engage in such a conversation with you;"

She didn't answer that, having realized that he was right.

"I take it that Lord Corrin has influenced you a little."

"I'm surprised that you even know." She admitted, annoyed. "You didn't exactly get a chance to witness the activity of the army.

"I noticed that your name is tied to his on the list, and you brought him to fly to the boat at Port Dia. I am not surprised at that, though. As you can see, Lord Corrin is skilled at getting people to gather around him, after all."

"Correct, but he is too naïve for his own good and too… cuddled. Lady Camilla worships the very ground he walk on, for instance. He himself admitted that. My task is to ensure that he can handle what he will be doing during the war."

"A most noble idea, though… I fear that he isn't cut out to be a ruthless killer. There is no shame in trying to harden him, but be careful of what you have him perform. He seemed to be quite shaken by what he did in the sanctuary after all."

"So was I was the time I held a weapon, but ultimately…"

"How young were you at the time?"

"I was ten."

Kaze's eyes widened briefly and he shook his head. Beruka grimaced in answer. _Pity _was useless. Pity couldn't change what happened. Whatever she could gain out of his sadness was trite.

"I am sorry to hear this but… consider that your life experiences are quite different. What "worked" for you may not work for him. No one can fully embrace murder." He said, and Beruka remained silent.

"… Killing means warmth." She said, and Kaze tilted his head in confusion. The conversation having reached an awkward point, Beruka promptly went past him to exit the wagon, his words dwelling on her mind. "I need to feed Sirius. We shall talk… whenever the occasion show itself."

"That is fine. I shall attempt to talk to Lord Corrin." He proposed, before leaving the wagon, as sort of a proof that he wouldn't attempt to sabotage what was inside. She didn't care, simply closing the door and smoothly gaining the next wagon, where the beasts of the army were stored. To do that, she had to walk past the large groups of soldiers walking down the dirt road leading to Nohr, but even in her quasi-torpor, that wasn't exactly hard.

_No one can fully embrace murder._

…

Cheve was a small city-state a bit on the north of Nestra. Long ago, the golden horde of Qliphoth attacked it, with the intention of razing it to the ground. While its famous sky knights managed to put up a struggle (being the first to do so) and bought time for their citizens to flee, they ultimately either fled or died, with a vast amount choosing to go down to the enemy arrows instead of fleeing. The town was then razed to the ground.

Surviving Chevois then banded together with the rest of the continent and repelled the foreign invasion before eventually beginning to rebuild their home town, with the help of some Nohrian architects. The use of magic helped to speed things along, enough that the city recovered its full glory just in time. Chevois, however, were unsatisfied with the new Nohrian influence on them, and some said that they began to plot with Hoshido against the dusk country, even inviting King Sumeragi to plot an uprising.

Thankfully, King Garon learnt of the treachery and went to Cheve to slay Sumeragi for his betrayal. As a result, the city is known across Dreiz from this tragedy more than it's known for its flying cavaliers, causing further annoyance against Nohr.

Looking at it, Beruka could indeed see the influence from the country up north within the country. Rows and rows of similar buildings stacked together across a gray paved street, with the occasional store or main place. She could see some statues, most depicting the sacrifice of the cavalier against the invading force. Twilight was setting in, and few people were roaming the street. And those that were were quick to go home or enter a tavern upon spotting some of the wyvern riders in the sky.

Only Corrin and Camilla moved to Cheve to visit though. The wyverns were sent over the sky as a warning to the rebellion, but it was decided that it would be unwise to send the army and allow the rebels to know just what they were dealing with. This is also why they were circling around the city hall in the middle of the city : if a most foolish action were to take place, then they'd be able to intervene. From what she could see though, the conversations were going well.

Thus, her eyes turned over to the forest beyond the city. Since the blight of Qliphoth stopped at the border of Nohr, Cheve had not been affected, allowing their forest to actually look like the one in that history book that she picked up. That river, called _Le p'tit serpent _by locals,was present in the city as well, separating part of it from an abandoned fort to the north. It was very likely that their enemies were using it as a base of operation.

They should try to smoke them out later.

…

The city's lord was a man named Rigeaux, barely old enough to remember the time where Sumeragi was still alive. While most Chevois would rather have nothing to do with Nohr after the murder of the Hoshidian king, he remembered a time where Nohr "shone", and tried to keep the relationship between country and civil-state cordial, which is why he was even receiving both Corrin and Camilla.

While Corrin was sitting in the chair in front of his desk (harder than he thought it'd be, with all his gear and cape), Camilla chose to stand still, arms folded. Rigeaux, an older man with greying hair and a most mighty mustache, was currently observing Corrin's struggle, sitting behind his desk with his hands joined together in a tentpole. The room itself was well-arranged, and Rigeaux wisely chose to put two busts of King Garon on his desk to greet the Nohrians.

Behind him stood a shelf full of books. On his left, close to the window where orange sunlight was leaking through, there stood a painting depicting a Chevois cavalier driving his spear through the armored chest of a soldier from Qliphoth, while Hoshidians, Nohrians charged in the background, united together against the golden horde. The prince stared at it, perhaps imagining herself in stead of the cavalier.

"I am… glad to be receiving two of Nohr's royals." He greeted. "Especially one who matched the Hoshidian high-prince in combat by himself.'

He didn't reveal it at the time, but the prince was surprised at these news of him matching him in Macarath. The truth is that he lost, badly, and would've barely made a scratch if not for a sudden boost in power. However, ever since he fell into his torpor, it seemed like the truth had been altered to make him look like the victor or, at worst, Ryoma's equal. And while his scars could've told a different story, those on his face were gone, and even that particularly nasty slash that his brother gave him was only a thin line on his chest.

And he didn't exactly feel like stripping in front of people to prove a point.

"Yes, I did." Said Corrin, hiding how uncomfortable he was with taking the credit. "So it would be wise for the rebels to consider surrendering."

Rigeaux recoiled back a little and his hands shot up. "Oh, I would quite agree with you, milord! I do not approve of this… rebellion that has taken place! Cheve cannot stand against Nohr after all!"

"Oddly quiet for an uprising."Noted Camilla. "Have the rebels chickened out perhaps?"

"No, no. They just… know that they cannot openly challenge Nohr." He said. "I suspect that they are attempting a undercover war, they… they wait before striking and then walking back into the shadows. After their announcement, they promptly scurried back to the shadow for instance."

"I see… well we'll need to fish them out before Hans get here." Said Corrin. "How much time should we have, Camilla?"

"Well, assuming that the oaf is still unaware of our little boost in speed to get there faster, we should still wait until we're well into daytime." Answered Camilla. "The problem will be solved by then! So we'll be able to tell him where he can shove his axe!"

Rigeaux blinked. "Hans? The captain?"

"Yes. He's a bloodthirsty brute. We have means to find hidden troops, but he might… not use them."

"Well, to be blunt, setting a building on fire is a good way to dispel any pesky shadows, in his eyes." Replied Camilla, blunt even with her smile on. "We are much more merciful by comparison, so it would be best to team up!"

"W-well, if you put it that way, I certainly will! What do you need?"

"Oh, nothing much! A description of whatever hiding spots they could use, back-up from the guards when things get ugly." Flippantly said the princess, putting some emphasis on the "when". "Anything that could be used to defend you against father!"

"Maybe you could order your citizens to quickly return to their home?" Asked Corrin. "If there are homeless people, perhaps they could be put somewhere too, since they have no home to hide in…"

"W-well, of course! I'll have my guards cooperate! As for the citizens… it is nice of you to care. I'll order a curfew, though they're inside for now."

"Yes, it'd make sense to hide from the rebels."

"Hm… well yes, obviously, but there have been reports of odd things at work near Cheve." Explained Rigeaux. "My people have brought up the presence of… invisible soldiers in the wood. I… well yes, this seems farfetched to say. But people have seen figures at night in the woods, purple eyes glaring at them from the darkness, sounds…"

They stared at him, and he quickly understood that they got themselves lost.

"Well, nevermind! I'm a fool, I…"

"No, no… that's fine." Said Corrin. "We're going to be a bit distracted but after the rebels, we'll deal with those soldiers."

"After all, father is about to visit here! And it would be most upsetting for him to have those soldiers roaming about!"

"Oh, the visit, erm… we'll make arrangements once we're done with the uprising of course!"

The dragon prince got up from his seat and began to leave. At the last second though, Rigeaux got up.

"Wait!" He yelled. "I would have one question to ask but… have you sent a knight to scout the woods?" And when the two royals shook their head, he briefly seemed confused. "Alright… take care, my friends."

Both Camilla and Corrin left the room, being temporarily left alone in the hall.

"Invisible soldiers, huh? Weird…" He said. He did want to speak of Iago's spell, that could apparently cloak armies, but perhaps that'd fall into the wrong ears. "We'll need to take care of them after the rebels."

"I have a feeling that this might be easier said than done. Hoshidians are good at hiding out in their little holes."

"Yeah, but… I think I know how to drag him out. Let's head back, we don't have much time."

…

Corrin wandered into the streets of Cheve, his long cape flowing dramatically in the wind to accompany each movement of his. The nightly mood and relative silence proved most proper for an introspection, which he needed.

He was confused on… a lot of things. Firstly, there was the Yato. While he had time to ponder about the significance of receiving the holy sword, it had been gnawing at his mind with the ferocity of a lion now that it had been damaged. Was he unworthy? Was the real wielder out of the sword out there and his task in the grand scheme of things was merely to give it to them?

The Rainbow Sage seemingly confirmed his status as a "chosen one", but he didn't feel like he's been living up to that status so far... How could he, the murderer of the Rainbow Sage and destructor of quite a few buildings in Macarath, accomplish this? It's not like he could even bring peace between Nohr and Hoshido at this point, not when he was so weak, so easily laid along with every order given by his superiors.

And he was still somewhat recoiling from the fight with Ryoma at Macarath, mentally at least. He knew of his brother's power, but never before had he been so easily outmatched at every opportunity… and he knew, somewhere that his brother had been holding back on him. Only the ties of blood saved Corrin from a swift death, and any progress that he could accomplish before the next encounter with the red prince, in his mind, couldn't make up for the gap of power between them.

He didn't admit it, but he was afraid of their next showdown. He didn't want to experience the agony of being slicked and shocked at the same time, nor did he want to relive the utter fear, pain and confusion felt when he realized just what he got himself into. But while he really wanted to just hide behind Camilla or even Xander, he knew that he wouldn't forgive himself for being a coward and that a voice would forever remind him of how much of a coward he was, handing out his fights to other people and then running off to be coddled by them.

And that voice would forever follow him, because it _was _him. The him that truly fought against Ryoma and the him who took command when he was a dragon. The very incarnation of what he could do if he ceased worrying about everything and embraced his full heritage, instead of constantly doubting himself at any time. If he simply chose to let go and focus on winning, instead of trying to usher a pointless peace, then everything would be _so much _easier, for him and for Nohr as a whole.

But could he just do that? Give everything up, cease doubting his actions and cynically give in to his violent urges? Could he even use his draconic form again, after the damage it did to Macarath? And will he ever figure out why he had it? Azura wasn't really responsive over it, choosing to switch subjects or flatly say "I don't know, Corrin", and he felt that she knew the most.

Corrin sighed and walked over to the _Place du roi tombé_. Sometimes, he just wished that this was all a dream and he was actually back at the fortress that he never left in the first place. He'd be awoken by Flora and Felicia, would listen to Jakob's barbs with a smile, would train with Gunter and Xander… and, when his big brother will tell him the good news and inform him that he can leave the fortress, Corrin will wait for his family to be gathered, smile and say…

"_I'm sorry, Xander, but I think I'd rather stay here."_

But was it all really for nothing? He met some good people. Arthur was a fun guy. He remembered Silas. He saved the Ice Tribe village with the help of his army, protected Port Dia, too… and he also met her.

Corrin didn't really know what to make of Beruka. She hadn't been lucky in life, and he'd gladly help her make friends, but he felt… weird around her at times? He never bothered to ask anyone else in the army, out of fear of being teased, but he felt more at ease with her than some others, like she wasn't always trying to cover up his mistakes or complimenting him at every occasion. Perhaps he was just glad they were becoming friends? Was there more to it?

Perhaps he'd ask Silas. Or perhaps he should rather focus on the weird noise that he heard a couple of meters to his left, snapping his attention back to the street where he stood, which he would have recognized easily even without the chalk drawing on the ground, depicting Sumeragi, the old king of Hoshido, slain by arrows after apparently conspiring with Cheve.

It was fairly accurate to what he wore at the time of death (they even bothered to include Raijinto) too. Perhaps the artist who drew it witnessed the event. Corrin briefly walked close to the drawing and shook his head, in a silent apology to the former king of Hoshido for what he was about to do. Then, he turned to his right and there was, indeed, a sign.

A chalk outline of a… dead child (causing the prince to briefly take a step back in surprise), with what seemed to be blood coming out of the figure, leading into the street where he heard the noise. Up above the drawing, he could briefly see a name, written down in Hoshidian : "Kamui". There was almost something soft to the way the symbols were written.

Corrin understood what Takumi was going for, and engaged down the path outlined by his brother, draping his cape over his body to better hide the fact that he was reaching out for Yato. Luckily, no Hoshidian emerged out of the shadows : The streets were empty tonight, and he couldn't hear a single thing. His enhanced senses failed to detect the slightest indicator that an enemy was around, even when he knew that his enemies were just waiting to spring out of their hole.

The line went on for quite some time, and the prince remained serious, walking down the paved streets. Looking up, he could see people in the lit windows above, looking down at him in confusion. He could even see one or two gesture at him, as if telling him to get inside, perhaps not seeing his features from their spot. To them, he shook his head, smiling gently even when they probably couldn't see his smile.

And, up above, he noticed one or two shadows watching him on the roof before quickly fading away.

It took him about 9 minutes before he turned around the corner to notice that, in the distance, the chalk path seemingly stopped. It found an end near the river bank at the town. From his spot, he could even easily see the abandoned fort in the opposite bank. The building looked wider in the darkness, but he approached it without fear, focusing on the end of the chalk path.

Ten steps away from it, he starts to hear people moving around. Nine steps away, he hears weapons clanking. Eight steps away, he hears rapid whispering. Seven steps away, he hears the flutter of massive wings. Six steps away, he recognizes that there is a chalk outline on the ground. Five steps away, he focuses on them. Four steps away, he recognize that they're in Nohrian. Three steps away, he sees his Nohrian name written above the outline, with each letter just looking more "aggressive" than the Hoshidian symbols back at the place, being wide and almost deformed. Two steps away, he recognizes that this is supposed to be his outline. One step away, he hears a bow being drawn.

And once he reaches the outline, an arrow tear through the air, heading towards his air. He ducks that one, with the arrow barely grazing the very tip of his hair, but the second arrow hit him square in the left ribs and he rolls sideway. His new armor as well as his toughness cushion the damage, but he still grasp his damaged ribs, wincing in pain.

Before him stands Takumi, Fujin Yumi drawn, tilting his head slightly upon noticing that Corrin was still alive.

"… Takumi." Says Corrin, attempting to hide his pain with a quick smile. "That was quite the theatric death."

"… Do you remember this place, Nohrian?" Asks Takumi, unusually silent. Behind him, Corrin notices a taller figure, with a massive axe and red armor. No one else appears at the moment, to his relief.

"I do, this is where…"

Takumi didn't bother to wait. "This is where my father, Sumeragi, was cut down." He answered himself. "He wanted to engage in peace talks with Nohr, and they answered to his outstretched hands with arrows."

He took the time to pause.

"A brilliant warrior, a great king, an excellent father… but unfortunately, he trusted the wrong people. The scum that he was always told to rightfully hate." Continued Takumi, making a pause before glaring. "But the Nohrians took more than him that night. Cheve is also the place where my brother died…" And then he took a few steps forward, shaking in rage as he pointed at Corrin. "And where _you _were born!"

"Takumi, I…"

"Enough!" Said Takumi. "I don't get how you went past both Ryoma and Hinoka, but you're through! This time, the royal blood that will be shed will belong to the Nohrians!" Continued the prince, angrily making a new arrow and pointing it at Corrin's head. His murderous glare, fully revealed by the arrow, sent a chill running down Corrin's spine. "Die!"

…

**N/A **: Whoah, a cliffhanger! It's nice to have those too!

Another long chapter but since we had a "filler" chapter of a sort, I felt like we should reach some canon content by this chapter. Next chapter might be an all out slugfest to compensate!

I see your point, raiden, but this was a nightmare of Corrin. Mikoto can see the future, but not past her death. She spoke of Corrin's ruining everything because that was simply Corrin's subconscious fucking with him, to tell it plainly! After all, I doubt she'd say such things to her son.

I'm putting more OCs but they're not very important to the story.

How was the chapter? Any reviews are really appreciated, don't be shy! Criticism and all is what help an author.

See you later!


	11. Showdown at Cheve

The arrow flew through the air once more, threatening to pierce right through Corrin's head. And this time, the blow would be most definitely lethal, even to one such as him. Chuckling, he thought back of that conversation that he had with Beruka, when she pointed out that perhaps he'd need a helmet. Perhaps he'd follow her advice next time, as unlikely as it seemed that he'd survive the day.

Fortunately enough for him though, fate had other plans for him. And if not, then he had his own strategy.

As expected of her, Camilla quickly burst into the scene, using her speed and power to land a clean hit on the arrow before it could reach Corrin. This caused Takumi to reel back in surprise, though his astonishment quickly made way for a nasty snarl when he noticed that Elise also emerged seemingly out of nowhere, already using Heal to do away with her big brother's wound. The dragon prince got up and briefly tousled Elise's hair before walking in front of his sister.

"Thanks for the heal, Elise! Now stay behind me!" He said,

He pulled out Yato but, hidden away in his cape, his enemies would probably not see the damage done to it yet, especially with the protection of the darkness. Beside, Takumi was too distracted by Camilla's sudden entrance, literally shaking in rage while looking at the young woman.

"You…Why would you always interfere in our business? But then again, I'm not surprised! You Nohrian dogs have no concept of honor!"

The figure behind him laughed and walked past Takumi. "She wouldn't have been able to jump in if you just shot him in the head instead of ranting."

No need to be a genius to know that this woman was probably the famous Scarlet, leader of the rebellion. He could tell by her red armor, and the confident way she carried herself next to the royals. Then again, one who can easily carry an enormous as if it were a toy has a right to be confident. She was… younger than he'd thought however, perhaps around Camilla's age.

Speaking of her, Garon's daughter slung her on her shoulder, looking down at her two enemies. "Oh, my dear, I would've blocked at anytime! And my, you are as energetic as ever, prince Takumi! If you were any calmer, perhaps you'd realize that luring my poor little Corrin into a trap isn't very honorable either!"

Takumi fumed, and Scarlet's smile faded ever so slightly. However, she quickly recovered it upon pointing her axe at Camilla.

"Say, it's mighty convenient that you three all went ahead and walked right into our trap. It's gonna make our job a lot easier!"

"Wait, no!" Said Corrin, raising his right hand. "We can talk! There's no need for Cheve to once again become the stage of a tragedy! If we can talk things through…"

Scarlet pressed her gloved fist into her forehead, groaning in annoyance. "Oh, for the love of… you're really naïve if you think words will do anything at this stage! Nohr has been kicking Cheve around far too much, I won't back down when we've finally got the means to take the hurt to them! The whole world is going to see the Nohrian army try to us down… and fail!"

Corrin's eyes briefly widened. "But… what about the innocent Chevois? They're going to suffer because of this! You're inviting a war to your own city! Is it worth it just to escape King Garon's rule?"

"Yes." Answered Scarlet. "Cheve will burn as long as he remains on that throne. I'd rather die fighting instead of cowering to my last breath like you!" She concluded, before pointing at the royals. "But enough talking! You're going to die here, Nohrians!"

"Oh, my poor, poor little revolutionary. I could break you and that angry little prince together by myself. Unless you brought your entire little group to the party, I fear that you're quite outmatched!"

Scarlet smiled and raised her fist before slamming it into her chest, causing a surprisingly loud noise. Camilla's eyes widened slightly when she noticed flares shoot out in the sky. The flares arced above the river, allowing the Nohrians to see Hoshidans emerging out of bushes along the riverbank, or popping out of the shadows, or, in some, bursting out of nearby buildings with Chevois fighters. They were similar to the dusk country in terms of uniform and armament, though they've customized their uniform to establish the difference between them.

Wyverns riders, Cheve's prized sky knight, flew out of the sky from the forest, and one particularly well-trained wyvern in particular flew towards the duo to land near Scarlet, roaring at the Nohrian siblings shortly after doing so. Scarlet, almost in defiance of the laws of physics, then jumped several feet into the air even with her armor, landing on the saddle of her wyvern. She had an eager grin on her face, whereas Takumi was still dour and remained on his feet. Curiously, his two bodyguards were missing.

They were surrounded : Corrin could see some enemies emerge from behind, right before the bridge leading to the other side of the bank.

Scarlet chuckled and stared down at Camilla. "Good thing I did just that." Snarked the rider. "Alright, prince Takumi, you may get the prince! I'll take care of that annoying broad!"

"Hmph! Do as you wish! You can weaken him if you wish but I want to be the one to put an arrow through his black heart."

"H-hey, stop ignoring me!" Yelled Elise, daring to emerge slightly from her spot to defiantly address the prince, causing Takumi to immediately attack with an arrow. Thankfully for the prince, a shocked Corrin quickly swung Yato to deflect the arrow, his other hand nudging Elise behind him. The princess gasped quietly behind him, and Corrin looked at his left : Yato had gained one more crack as a result of the collision, and this time, the secret was out at least for the princess.

Thankfully enough, Camilla was far too distracted by the sudden attack on her sister to notice or care. Her casual smirk in the face of danger was gone now, replaced with an expression of bloodlust intense enough to send a Faceless running. Takumi stood up to it decently enough, but Scarlet actually found herself a little worried.

"Hey, prince Takumi, she might be Nohrian but…"

"So what?!" Answered the prince. "If you ignore them now, they'll be a problem later. This cursed bloodline has caused far too much…"

Before he could finish his answer, Takumi was surprised to see Camilla slowly raise her left hand and clench it into a fist, as a signal of a sort. In answer, he scoffed… and made it way easier for a sudden Fire spell to land on his face, throwing him backward and causing Scarlet to briefly balk in surprise. The wyvern rider's surprise couldn't keep her down for long though, and the animal took flight before a thunder spell managed to make contact, though it managed to nail an unlucky Chevois fighter behind her.

The rebel leader briefly glanced at the struck-down resistant with a sorrowful look on her face, and looked back at the attacker : Nyx, who had appeared between Camilla and the group. Thinking quickly, an archer shot at the mage with a spell, but the projectile was swiftly deflected by Kaze, the young man having used a common sword to cut the arrow in half before it could strike the young mage. He wielded the Nohrian blade with surprising effective.

Kaze shook his head. "Prince Takumi, I never thought that you would so casually shoot at Lady Elise…"

"Y… you traitor! Don't you dare lecture me!" Snarled Takumi. "I'm doing this for my nation! A concept that you obviously can't grasp! And where did you even come from?!"

Nyx's eyes focused on Takumi, but she simply placed her finger in front of her lips, otherwise remaining stoic. And then, seconds after Nyx's attack, the rebels quickly found themselves dealing with another nasty surprise when Nohrians soldiers poured out of the old fort. Cheve's sky knights found themselves under attack when wyvern riders suddenly smashed their way out of the walls of the old ruins, promptly attacking them in a way that caused chaos amongst their ranks.

Beruka was amongst one of the first to smash her way through the ancient brimstone, smashing her axe into the face of the nearest Chevois knight. Sirius, as vicious as his master, promptly flew to ram into another, smaller wyvern while it was distracted, allowing his mistress to hurl one of her tomahawks at close range to swiftly end its rider's life. Unaffected by the impact that he just inflicted, Sirius got back into the fight eagerly, heading out towards his next victim after barely waiting for Beruka to grab her axe.

"Bastards!" Scorned a Hoshidan, immediately preparing to nock an arrow at the enemy riders… Only to be shot in the head by another archer before he could carry out his task, causing him to collapse on the ground at the feet of some of his terrified countrymen.

Niles and some of his bow-wielding allies emerged out of the ruins, quickly using their arrows to attack the nearest enemies. But while their weapons were effective against the light armor of their rival archers, they could only snap ineffectively against the armor of a Chevois knight, who raised his shield to deflect some more for the sake of a less-armored fellow standing right next to him.

"What a foolish tactic! Those unprotected archers shall be torn to pieces by the cavalry! Charge!" Boasted the proud soldier, running down the road leading to the fortress with the firm intention of cutting the outlaws to pieces. While the charge itself was most impressive, he didn't account for what could still be inside the fortress, causing him to be ambushed by Effie, of all people, the pink knight almost leaping out of one of the fortress's large doors right before slamming her shield into him, sending the knight and his mount outright flying straight into the river.

The young woman's eyes widened slightly and she cupped her hand over her eyes. "Oh wow… Never thought he'd fly this fast."

"Effie, that was pretty nice, but you should remain focused."

What was probably the strongest woman in the army in terms of strength turned towards Benny and nodded silently before joining him to form a wall of steel for the sake of their more fragile allies. Knights came out of either side of the fortress, with those on the right adding to the wall while those on the left formed a defensive barricade of their own.

But amongst the knights, some units stood out, such as Peri or Charlotte. The younger woman didn't bother holding formation however. Her mount, a large horse that seemed surprisingly eager for blood, ran straight towards the nearest unlucky soldier, allowing his mistress to spear him right in the chest!

"Woohoo, finally, action!"

Charlotte stared at Peri's rampage with big wide eyes, attempting to follow suit. "Why are all the retainers here crazy or something?!" She muttered, before engaging on the bridge with the others to try and join the next side, along with other members of the army. Corrin, in the distance, glanced at Takumi briefly but decided to put Elise amongst friends first.

"Kaze, help me bring Elise towards our allies!"

"It will be done, milord!"

Takumi summoned an arrow again but was interrupted when Camilla charged at him, effortlessly swatting away the one arrow he shot at her and then kicking him away with enough strength to topple the three men who attempted to stop his impromptu flight. Seeing an opportunity to end a member of the rival bloodline, the young woman leapt across the air to bring down her axe upon him. Takumi barely dodged at the last moment, but the pavement below wasn't so lucky, being shattered with ease by Camilla's mighty axe swing.

Scarlet took off instead, with the intention of swiftly reaching Nyx to kill the sorceress before she could continue casting her spell. Unluckily enough for her though, more mages decloaked right next to Nyx and blasted away with their own spell, forcing her backward. And before she could even begin to contemplate throwing her axe, several arrows forced her to dodge, keeping her on the defensive. The distraction of the two leaders allowed Corrin and Kaze to begin making their way towards the Hoshidans who were standing between them and the bridge. The forward offense of the dragon prince and the ninja seemed meager in the eyes of the more numerous soldiers of the east, but with the Nohrian soldiers that were currently crossing the bridge, they would very soon receive back-up.

"Run away or we'll have to fight through you!" Yelled Corrin. In answer, the soldiers defiantly charged ahead anyway, running towards Kaze and Corrin in an attempt to quickly overwhelm them. And while the dragon prince had the skills to fend them off, he couldn't trust that he'd be able to keep Elise safe!

Luckily, the green ninja decided to take the lead. "My liege, hang back!" He ordered, before almost throwing himself into the Hoshidan hordes, to Corrin's horror. However, shock soon turned to amazement when his ally easily dodged the tip of one spear, swiftly cutting down the offending lancer. Swords truck at him in three separate directions but he moved almost as swiftly as lightning, either deflecting or dodging the swords before felling his enemies with precision.

Corrin knew that Kaze was quite powerful, but the former soldier of Hoshido was efficient and deadly in his strikes, slicing through weak spots or vital points with the tip of his sword and casually getting out of the way or stabs, or slashes or even desperate kicks. He was agile to the point of being ethereal, as if the blades were phasing through his body harmlessly instead of simply missing, to the frustration of his former comrades in arms.

"Die, traito-GAH!" Said a soldier, all too easily interrupted by an elbow to the face.

"Milord!"

Seeing that Kaze had made his way through the group, Corrin raised his weapon and made a charge of his own the remaining foes, with the intention of finishing them off, if only because he couldn't afford to make a mistake when Elise was in reach of enemy blades. Already weakened, the Hoshidans were all too easily fell and Peri arrived to see that her enemies were already laying in a pool of their own blood. The prince sighed, realizing that at least Elise closed her eyes… and probably still heard the sound of battle anyway.

"Get Elise behind the knights, she can heal them if they need." He said, passing Elise to Charlotte. The blonde looked down at the princess and briefly considered complaining about baby-sitting, but then realized that it was her shot at earning a royal's gratitude.

"Of course! I'll protect her to my last breath! _Wellmaybenotyoudontmakepromisesyouwontholdbutanyway_. But, where are you going Milord?"

"We'll assist Camilla!" Answered Corrin, looking at his big sister from afar. Takumi had established some distance and Scarlet joined the fight up above, meaning that Camilla was cleaning up the soldiers on her path for now, with supports from the mages. The princess, however, hardly needed their aid, all too easily cutting through swaths of rebels and Hoshidans.

A police cough ensued. "… We're going to get Camilla to assist us." Corrected the young man. "Let's ask the mages to help out for the battle above. We'll take the heat off them by preventing foes from approaching!"

"Alright!"

"Good luck big bro! I'll cross that river if you need me!"

Half the squad backed off the bridge, keeping a cheerful Elise safe by surrounding her. This left Peri, Kaze, Corrin and quite a few cavaliers and soldiers to deal with the enemy ahead, and while Peri eagerly charged into the fray, Corrin chose to turn to Kaze.

"You'll need to teach me how to dodge like you! It's like you weren't even worried about getting hit!"

Kaze chuckled. "Milord, I dodge well because I _am _very much worried about getting hit!"

And they both went into battle.

…

Beruka cut down another sky knight, and set off into battle again, briefly observing how the fight was going from below.

The Nohrian army's successful, if risky (since it required the rebels not realizing that their forces in the fort had been silently compromised) gambit allowed them to handily take the upper hand against the rebels. Not all of Corrin's soldiers were present, owing to the need to prevent the rebels from being suspicious (and Corrin's desire to have the civilians remains safe), but this slight disadvantage in manpower didn't help the opposing side much when dealing against the aggressive tactics of their foe.

As of right now, the Chevois and their allies had decided to adopt a defensive formation, forming walls of blades to cover for their own archers and diviners. While the knights of Nohr could easily break through their defenses, a particularly fearsome mage was spreading chaos amongst the lines using a special scroll, sending out purple demon heads on the nearest Nohrians to easily pierce through their heavy armor. And while the Nohrian dark mages were trying their hardest to match her, the sheer raw power of the spells made it hard for them.

Even Nyx was on the defensive. While powerful, her younger body made prolonged use of magic quite straining, complicating the situation for her side. The knights were actually getting pushed back, slowly walking backward into the bridge while the other mages were scrambling to prevent the demon heads from blowing them up under them. To aid them, some of the archers on Nohr's side were shooting at the ground-bound troops, though their arrows met little success because of the shields wielded by some of the troops.

Up above, things were barely going better : An Hoshidan had joined the fight, uniquely riding a large white bird into battle. Beruka recognized that it was a Kinshi Knight, a group of flying units feared by the finest wyvern riders from Nohr because of their skillful usage of bows in battle. A Malig Knight would be able to rival them, but unfortunately enough, those were missing in the army, to their regret.

The Hoshidan had blue hair and cackled hysterically with each successful kill, which reminded Beruka of Peri and only made the young woman even more eager to take her down. Approaching her thoughtlessly was a most foolish task, since an hail of arrows would shred her and Sirius to pieces, but she was probably doing the most damage in the army along with Scarlet, which meant that she had to go.

That, and she had to do all that while dodging the rain of arrows fired by either side, and sometimes even spells. If the assassin had any quality though, it was keeping her calm. And that meant keeping a watchful eye on the battlefield, and spotting occasions to take the advantage. And she noticed one soon enough : A Chevois knight, who was barely hanging on in the air at this point. Perhaps she could praise his determination to keep fighting, or perhaps she could lean forward and give out the order to her beast.

"Bite, Sirius."

Understanding her command, Beruka's wyvern roared and headed straight for the wounded Chevois, biting into his own animal's flank and then preparing to ram into the archer. Knowing that her animal probably couldn't really see, Beruka kept her grip on the saddle of her wyvern, while smacking the rider of the improved ram away from his seat with a mighty blow, causing him to fall off and hang onto the side. This cleared the way for her to see that she was heading the right way, and also that the Hoshidan was vainly trying to shoot at her with her arrows.

Beruka had to dodge those aimed at her head but, for his one, her relative small size helped. And while the Shinki was agile, it was distracted by the need to dodge spells and arrows, whereas Sirius was bold enough to essentially go on a straight line, in a bid to remove a mighty new rival!

Briefly, Beruka could see the woman's eyes widen, almost in terror, and she raised her axe to bury it in her chest… and then, Sirius stopped his ram, briefly raising in mid-air while letting go of its prey. Confused, his mistress glanced down to see multiple projectiles of light begin to fill the sky, hitting several other Nohrian wyverns with a terrifying level of accuracy.

Sirius's chest was filled with almost ten of Fujin Yumi's arrows, and the mighty beast could only screech in pain before going down, falling at high speed towards the ground right before hitting the Kinshi. The blue-haired woman took this opportunity to shoot at Beruka, but the assassin was quick even in panic, hurling a tomahawk her way and seemingly managing to score a hit. She would perhaps appreciate this successful throw if it weren't for her incoming collision with the river below.

Beruka, swiftly navigating even in her stressful circumstances, got rid of the equipment tying her to her beast and leapt off into the river, a few seconds before impact with the ground. She knew on how to best approach a fall into the water, having escaped that way many times by now. Unlike what some believed, water wasn't exactly going to softly cushion her fall : If anything, messing up could both stun and harm her while getting her underwater, causing her to drown.

At which point a high-speed collision would've been by far the less painful option.

Angling her body to go feet first, Beruka sharply inhaled before closing her mouth and putting her hand over it and her nose. Then, it was a matter of handling the series of miniature explosions all over her spine and the sudden feeling of being punched in the face by an ice block, which faded soon enough to make way for a sensation of being repeatedly tapped on the top of the head by some fists.

Even with her landing, her body spun around in the cold water of Cheve multiple times over, seeing the quiet light of the moon or the raging brilliance of the various spells above her for only seconds before being forced to briefly star at the rocky floor of the river, and the fresh corpses laying on it. And while she would've very much liked to interrupt her course, her arms and legs seemingly took a will of their own, refusing to move in the way she wanted during her struggle to retrieve an appropriate swimming position.

She thought that she would simply return to the surface swiftly, but her swim towards what she hoped would be the good side of the bank had a surprising amount of desperation to it, and when she emerged, grasping upon the grass to hang on, she took the time to breath in and out slowly. Equinox, Nohrian spirit of time, seemingly elected to slow down the events going around her. Were it more opportune times, perhaps she'd notice just how long it's been since she actually managed to swim somewhere, and how weird it felt then, but her tired eyes focused on another sight.

Sirius, dead, laying on his flank near the river, just close enough that the slightest push would topple him over. No defiant last roar, no last push to remain alive.

There was something upsetting in that, and to her surprise, it wasn't because she was now mountless. Beruka knew that Sirius would die one day, and she'd need to replace him, but she didn't really care about that. He was but an animal, devoid of a higher purpose beyond serving his master. She already long made peace with that fact… yet, here she was, dumbstruck in the middle of a large fight, staring at her dead animal.

Desperation has managed to give her the strength to swim out in spite of the gear she was carrying, but pulling herself out of the water would be difficult, especially with her armor and weapons. Not having much time, Beruka thought of stabbing her axe into the ground to use it as a leverage, but an hand shot out of the darkness before she could do so, yanking her out of the water.

"Beruka! Are you alright?"

Corrin had some blood running down the left side of his head but other than that, he was pretty much fine. His new armor was a most useful one, it seemed.

"… Yes." She said, still feeling the effects of her impromptu dive. Corrin opened his mouth to speak, noticing the dead Sirius in the corner of his eye, but Beruka grabbed him by the collar to quickly begin running up the bank, near the other. Looking around, she could see that the battle had taken a bad turn for the Nohrians : with Takumi harassing the troops with a stream of arrows (sacrificing quality for quantity, it seemed : the Nohrian knights, while pinned down, could withstand them with their shields), The diviner was free to continue her onslaught, and only one or two wyverns remained above. Even Camilla had been forced back, having switched to blasting away at projectiles with Thunder. The lesser spell, however, couldn't challenge a Calamity Gate well enough for it to matter much.

The proud soldiers had chosen to retreat over to the other side of the bank for now, and Beruka could spot Elise near the middle of the group that formed. On the other side of the bank, the Hoshidan were content to remain there with their Chevois allies, keeping up a constant stream of projectiles. The battlefield was almost glowing blue because of the light emanating out of the prince's bows, and his arrows were more akin to beams, gliding through the air to crash into Nohrian steel with great swiftness and precision.

"Why are we retreating Corrin?!" Said Silas. "The enemy has us locked down! We can't keep retreating!"

"Yeah!" He said. "So, on my signal, you're all going to run right at them!"

Silas leant forward in shock "What?!"

"Elise!"

The young princess nodded, and made a twirling motion with her staff (imitating Laslow's gesture with his sword) before slamming it down into the ground. At her feet, the ground light up, and a miniature earthquake shook the battlefield, interrupting the battle for a brief instant. Silence struck... and a most majestic noise ensued, announcing the sudden formation of a ball of fire above the sky.

Before any comment could be made on it, the fire ball darted across the sky, heading out towards the resistant army, guided by the will of the Dusk Dragon. Corrin, realizing what was about to happen, raised his hand to try and futilely stop it and, alas, the fire ball moved slightly to the left, imploding close to the resistance, the shockwave blowing away those who were lucky enough not to be caught in the blast.

Corrin's influence avoided a direct encounter with a building, but still : The place where the fire ball hit was now covered in flames, and some of the buildings were already being reached by the inferno. Going by the prince's reaction, he expected a decidedly less lethal dragon vein.

Elise gasped. "W-whoah… I never used a dragon vein before…"

"Nice fireworks." Complimented Camilla, unfazed by the buildings's plight.

"C-charge!" He said. "But stop the fire too! Mages, focus your spells on it! We'll handle the Chevois!"

Not so easily stunned, the Nohrians were the first to recover, and charged across the bridges. Some mages were heading towards the fire, but the rest were gunning for the Hoshidans and Chevois who had been struck, easily provoking a massacre upon reaching the disoriented soldiers!

"Go for the prince! Neutralize him quickly!" Ordered Corrin, already preparing to attack Takumi. To his surprise though, the prince recovered quicker than he'd thought, jumping backward and preparing an arrow, attempting to make it as large as possible to avoid missing. Fortunately, before he could fire, a shuriken flew out of the air and managed to hit him right in the hand. And while he was certainly tough, even the prince could not shrug off a wound like that with ease!

"Gah! Who'd dare use a weapon like this…"

Kaze, the sole ninja amongst the entire army, had emerged from the shadows, firing more projectiles at Takumi already. This time, though, a knight ran in front of the prince, deflecting the shuriken with his shield. Desperate to shut down Takumi, Corrin leapt forth to knock the knight down with a kick, and shot his hand towards Takumi's collar. But the wheel of fate favored Takumi this time, and Scarlet was the one to grab the prince, quickly pulling him out of the melee that was taking place

"Oh no you don't!"

Camilla threw her large war axe at the rebel leader but Scarlet dodged to the right, just in time to get struck in the right wing by Beruka's tomahawk, causing her wyvern to scream shortly before crashing down to the ground. She could see the rebel leader toss the prince away shortly before impact : Going by the direction, they probably meant to flee towards the forest.

The road leading to the forest had a dirt road leading to the city and a plain full of grass on the right, with the river on the left. The rebels were currently on the right, with the remaining Hoshidian forces attempting to desperately hold back the army.

"Corrin dear! Chase the prince!" Ordered Camilla, before slamming her fist into a man's face. Easier said than done in the large, confusing brawl between the remainder of the Hoshidan and the Nohrians who weren't busy with the fire. But alas, some fighters made their way through : Corrin, Silas, Beruka and Peri. The purple-haired princess was at the very heart of the brawl and devoid of weapons, preventing her from going through so easily, and the rest of the Nohrians were having a tough time, with quite a few Hoshidians attempting to outright die on top of them just to delay the soldiers a little.

Ahead of them, there remained Takumi, Scarlet herself and that purple-haired woman. The prince wasn't shooting arrows yet, owing to having a sharp piece of metal painfully stuck through his hand, so Silas and Peri went on the offensive, attempting to use their horses to catch up to the ground troops easily, but out of the woods about five soldiers emerged to run past their superiors in an attempt to stalemate the troops. Peri cackled and easily slew about three, while Silas took care of two, briefly throwing a frightened look her way.

Then, Peri's cackle was answered with another one, and that damn Kinshi swept down from the sky, almost slamming into Peri and tossing her and her horse away!

Corrin gazed at the fallen, yet still breathing, knight and almost turned around, only for Beruka to grab his forearm to keep dragging him towards the fight.

"She'll get better!" She yelled, and while she did dislike Peri, her refusal to help wasn't caused by mere disdain. Soon, their allies would break through and give her the help she needs… physically (unless that slam knocked some sense back into her). All they could do was to continue and stop the prince with Silas… who promptly got knocked off his feet by a nearby explosion, thrown by the purple haired woman.

"A-argh! Keep going Corrin!" He said, and Corrin had to struggle to continue on his main path. That left about the two of them against four enemies, though soon enough, Takumi reached the woods and disappeared amongst the trees. His ally refused to follow suit though, displaying a Nohrian-like determination in the face of danger by turning around, entering a battle stance.

"I'm not backing down against just two of Garon's boot-lickers! Charge!"

The woman threw another spell but Corrin and Beruka both leapt to the side to dodge it. Beruka, however, soon had to deal with another attack when the Kinshi Knight swept towards her with a large black spear. Thinking quickly, she pulled out her axe and used it as an improvised shield. The shock, however, was enough to send her flying anyway, though at the very least she merely felt like her bones were being demolished with an hammer instead of having a stab wound the size of a dinner plate.

She was still feeling a bit rattled by her sudden dive underwater, and the smallest shock would make her feel like her organs and bones were being tossed around by a tornado. Not a very ideal situation at the moment.

Corrin actually fared better for once, only having to deal with Scarlet. The young blonde winded-up a strike with her axe, and Beruka, from her spot, could only hope that Corrin wasn't going to try to block it : Even from a distance, one could tell that the attack was packing a serious punch, enough to perhaps shatter Yato regardless of the axe being a common weapon. And enough to outright split the young man in half with the same strike.

Luckily, Corrin used his agility, leaping above the horizontal blow with great ease. Scarlet spun around, unable to change the axe's course because of the sheer amount of strength put into the blow, and the prince capitalized on the opportunity to grab her by the face. As he landed, the blue-haired young man used both his physical might and his momentum to slam the back of her head into the ground, knocking her unconscious in a single strike.

Beruka found herself smiling, if only for an instant.

"Sorry! But I need to reach Takumi!" He said to the downed leader of the rebellion. He looked at Beruka but the young woman simply shook her head, and he quickly turned around to enter the forest…

And Beruka quickly turned to leap to the side, avoiding another Calamity Gate at the right time. In spite of her skills, it seemed like she couldn't handle the projectiles that well, perhaps because of the sheer power of the scroll.

"We can't afford to waste too much time with this woman, Reina." Declared the woman, grunting in annoyance at the sight of Beruka escaping death once more.

"And yet I would love to take my time. This annoying little runt snapped my precious bow in half!" Complained Reina. "A death by your Calamity Gate would be far too quick, my dear Orochi, I want her to bleed!"

And with that, the blue-haired (a person of lesser focus would perhaps remark on how oddly common it was across Dreiz) Kinshi Knight flew forth to clash with Beruka. The young woman deftly grabbed her axe and began clashing with the Hoshidan, deflecting or dodging her spear using her weapon. She was doing well in defending herself, but the length of the spear and the Kinshi's constant movements made it hard to strike back. Beruka's defense was constantly being prodded and poked at, but Reina could safely strike without having to worry about getting hit.

The only thing that seemed to work in Beruka's favor was that Orochi was holding back to avoid blowing up her teammate.

Sparks flew in the air multiple times as their weapons clashed, and Beruka attempted to quickly earn the upper hand by trying to deflect the spear with a mighty axe blow. Reina's constant cackle ceased as her weapon ended up smacked away, and the assassin took her chance, heading out to try to quickly slash at the Kinshi's wing to prevent it from constantly flying around. However, while Reina's right arm was busy trying to prevent her weapon from flying off, her legs were free. And the rider was quick to realize what Beruka meant to do, lashing out with her leg to strike the assassin in the chin.

Disoriented, the Nohrian was then promptly hit by the wing that she meant to sever. And while the Kinshi wasn't as strong as a wyvern, the collision was still enough to create some distance between the two women. The assassin's ribs felt like they were being held together by strings and a warm liquid was escaping from her mouth, but she couldn't lose focus on such meager things, not when about ten white scrolls were heading towards her.

Her axe having been lost during her short flight, Beruka dodged this time, though about four grazed her and carved gashes on her right arm, right shoulder, right cheek and the upper side of her head, having managed to angle her head a bit further to avoid deeper lacerations. Briefly surprised, her sharp eyes gazed upon Orochi, who seemingly decided to join the fight.

The diviner switched scrolls, so it seemed.

"Orochi! This is a duel!"

"You're playing around too much, Reina! Our allies are about to be overwhelmed at any moment!"

Beruka shook her head and wiped the blood on her chin with her thumb, grabbing yet another tomohawk and promptly going back into the fight while the two women were arguing. The bloodthirsty Hoshidan laughed at this sight and eagerly went back into battle, absolutely amazed at her enemy's endurance.

"Ah! We fight again!"

Once again, her black spear collided with the assassin's axe. Their weapons clashed for three seconds before Beruka backed off, tossing off her tomahawk axe at Reina. The blue-haired woman dodged with ease and, for this reason, briefly turned around to glance at her partner, who easily dispatched the flying projectile with her scrolls. Beruka didn't attack her while she was distracting, aware that she'd probably just block.

"Nice little trick! But it didn't work!"

"You're wrong."

Reina frowned… and her eyes widened when she heard the sound of iron impacting flesh behind her, with a scream of agony ensuing very soon after. Turning around once more, she was shocked to see her diviner friend struck down, with an axe right in the stomach. Unable to understand what happened, the former retainer turned around to notice that one of Beruka's tomahawks was missing. A closer attention to detail would reveal that one of her enemy's fists was closed, but alas, she didn't notice.

"_Oh, those can kind of… be thrown in a way where they curve back at the target, I heard." _She heard in her head.

"You… you!"

Reina charged again, and Beruka knew that she had no more tomahawks now that she just threw her last two. The dirt in her hands, which she quickly threw at the eyes of both beast and rider, was most adequate, temporarily blinding them both. Angrily, Reina attempted to establish some distance by lashing out with her spear, but Beruka took a gambit by jumping to her, ignoring the blade as it gashed into her sides to better slam her elbow into the older woman, hurling her off her mount and causing them both to crash into the ground. The confused Kinshi flew away and, briefly, Beruka thought that Sirius would've turned around to devour whoever would be bold enough to knock her off her seat. Reina was kind enough to remind the assassin of where she was standing though, furiously lashing out with her fists at the armored killer.

Desperation gifted her with new strength, but Beruka was a younger woman who was much more used to getting physical. Up-close and without weapons or mounts, it was easy for her to gain control over her foe, placing her knees over her arms and then wrapping her own hands around Reina's throat before squeezing. In spite of her incoming demise, the bow-wielder opted to smile, as if welcoming her fate or to spite Beruka. She couldn't know.

After making sure that she managed to strangle her, Beruka sighed and got off the corpse, walking a short distance to retrieve her spear and heading towards Orochi. In spite of the damage done to her, the diviner was still clinging to life, glancing up at her killer with a fearsome look of determination. To make sure that she wouldn't use an esoteric spell in a last attempt to off her, Beruka quickened her pace.

But what greeted her were merely last words.

"For every Hoshidan you kill… ten more rises…"

"They'll die too." Retorted the woman, not stopping her little walk before performing her deed with a simple stab.

Beruka, once she was done, stabbed the spear into the ground and briefly used it to support herself, sighing tiredly a few times. Her bloods leaked out of the wounds she accumulated, dripping into the ground, and she caught herself observing droplets falling from her elbow to stain the grass for a few seconds before looking back at the more important picture : The Hoshidans were being cleaned up, and both Peri and Silas were shakily getting up. Beruka could sit down and simply wait for back-up to ensure Corrin's safety…

And yet, she chose not to. Pride, perhaps, pushed her to ignore her body's protests and head back into the forest, keeping the black spear in hand. He'd need her help after all, and even with all the exhaustion and fatigue, she knew that she had it in her to take down whatever Hoshidan dared to face her, even if they had royal blood.

On the way, she noticed that Scarlet was slowly emerging out of her unconscious state, grunting weakly while trying to get up. Thinking quickly, she chose to deny her the role of martyr by smacking her in the face with her armored, promptly knocking her out again. This great task fulfilled, Beruka wandered into the woods.

…

Corrin tightened his grip on Yato, using his superior vision to notice the small blood trail left by the prince. He could already see the footprints somewhat, and hear the noises, but a short while into the chase Takumi called on whatever ninja training he had to become one with silence, apparently. He kept his senses sharp as a result, ready to intercept the first arrow that his brother would fire.

"Takumi!" He yelled. "Takumi, come out!"

Silence answered him, and the young prince shook his head. Why was he even calling? Of course his brother wouldn't answer! If Leo were here, he'd surely chide him over that.

But Leo wasn't here at the time. Looking back, no one was actually at the woods : Beruka was caught up with the retainers, Silas and Peri were out cold it seemed (and Corrin still had to remind himself not to run back to heal them) and the rest of the army was busy. It was him, all alone, against the person who hated him perhaps the most in the entire Hoshidan army.

In a way though, he would feel scared even if he were after a mere foot soldier. There was something to solitude that unnerved Corrin deeply. He always had someone to run off to in his life, be it a sibling, Gunter or Azura, and the lack of one such person at the moment was most distressing to him, especially with his dark surroundings and the distant sounds of battle.

"_Stop complaining, Corrin, you're a grown man! You can do something without having to be cuddled!"_

After being chided by his inner voice, the Nohrian dragon began to make his way through the woods again, preparing to defend himself upon hearing the slightest sound. Be it a mere animal fleeing in the darkness, or the slight creak of a tree branch, or the furious creation of an arrow made out of energy, which preceded an attempt from said arrow at colliding with his face.

Corrin deflect the projectile with his sword and a bit of it flew off again, to his distress. But Takumi, his hand now healed, kept the onslaught going, soon forcing his brother to run around the forest. While the gray prince wasn't shooting out with the rate of fire used against the army, it meant that the arrows were individually stronger, piercing through trees easily or creating decent-sized holes into the ground.

The young man kept running, attempting to approach slowly as he did, but the trees made it troublesome to move around for him. He could smash through them, but he feared that this would slow him down for a moment, and allow Takumi to land one of his arrows.

"Takumi! Stop!" He yelled, uselessly, since the Hoshidan prince didn't even bother with an answer this time. Running out of options, the prince switched tactics entirely, running at Takumi and attempting to dodge the arrows thrown his way by either dodging or using Yato. The light of the arrows revealed further and further cracks to the sword, but at the moment, the prince cared more about living through the night to care.

His rival began walking backward, destroying an empty potion container on the ground, but failed to properly establish distance. Corrin's eyes widened and for once, he felt victory coming. The flow of adrenaline that followed allowed him to complete the final part of his run, even as Takumi's arrows began to leave painful gashes over his head or arms… when they weren't hitting him in the chest or the arm! He thanked Camilla for her choice in armor.

Pushing through the pain, Corrin leapt forward and slammed his foot into the ground in front of Takumi, shattering it outright and stopping the stream of attacks. This didn't stop his brother yet however, and he quickly made a bigger arrow with the Fujin Yumi, capable of punching through his older brother's armor. Seeing this, he promptly swung Yato right as it was fired, hoping to slice right through it!

The arrow exploded into pieces, and Takumi gained an unhinged expression on his face. Confidently, Corrin twirled his sword and swung his sword, with the intention of slashing him in a way that would prevent him from fighting any further! And this time, the archer was helpless to stop it!

But yet, it didn't hit. For it was hard to hit someone with a shattered sword.

The two princes stopped and Corrin brought his sword up. Indeed, Yato had been shattered : There remained nothing of the blade, except for a sharp broken little tip that was coming out of the handle. The rest of the shattered sword was laying at his feet, having been broken during the final clash perhaps.

Corrin's eyes widened in utter despair and the feeling that overtook him at Macarath, if only briefly, came back to him. But this time, Azura and the others weren't there to get him to just ignore that nascent feeling of being the "wrong" chosen one. This time, he was alone, and perhaps his greatest enemy saw his failure.

"No… n-no…"

Takumi could've used this to attack or gain distance. He could've used this to perhaps continue fleeing. Anything could be done now that Corrin was this weakened. So, he laughed, and echoed through the forest. There was something so utterly triumphant, so utterly _relieved _about his laughter that it hurt the prince more in a way. Corrin fell to his knees and began to try and retrieve the shards, ignoring his foe in his panic.

"Y-you know!" Said Takumi, between bouts of schadenfreude. "You… When you received Yato, this only made me more resentful. You, who caused this much suffering for our country, would earn such a legendary sword? Absurd."

He calmed down briefly, but a big smile remained on his face, like a child would after tricking his parents into punishing his brother. His glee was obvious yet sincere, and in a way, this hurt Corrin more. He had _never _seen Takumi be this happy, not even with his brothers or retainers, or even mother. And for a while, he wondered how he could make him smile and convince him that he wasn't a Nohrian spy.

Perhaps he failed the latter, but he had definitely succeeded the former.

Takumi gestured while talking, not even bothering to form an arrow. "But now… now that it's broken, I… I feel like it was a joke on you. The gods saw your treacherous act and decided to pay the traitor with a taste of his own medicine. They knew that the others would crow about the prophecy, and they knew that you would swallow it all like the egocentric you are!"

"…"

"So, they gave it to you! And made sure everyone would know just how precious it is… only to shatter it on you! How does it feel, Corrin, to have your ambition torn down to pieces? To know that the prophecy was a fake? Or perhaps it isn't! Perhaps the true chosen one will slay the false one, and will be the one to trigger Yato's awakening!"

"I… I… Takumi, I never thought that I was the chosen one or…"

Takumi's smile grew wider. "Nonsense! You did! You did because it probably comforted you, hm? You know that Hoshido is in the right. You _regret _siding with those barbarians in armor. You know that mother would've _hated _you for this!" He continued, almost gleeful. "So you used the prophecy to keep going, to think that you were in the right for betraying your homeland and throwing your birthright away!"

Takumi turned around, knowing that his brother wouldn't strike him from behind. And he was right : Corrin could barely even gather the strength to even move.

The prince turned around eventually, making a sweeping motion towards the scattered shards. "And…here it is. In pieces."

There was a brief pause.

"You do like lying to yourself, Corrin, huh? I do not envy you, having to constantly find excuses has to be tiresome." Takumi spoke, faking compassion. "Coming up with those delusions… I couldn't manage! But that's because, unlike you, I know the family whom I belong to!"

"I… I know the Nohrian, they…"

A familiar snarl appeared on Takumi's face. "The Nohrians? They're not your family. And… neither are us." He spoke. "Have you ever thought about it? How you look… weird while we look more normal?"

The prince pointed at Corrin's ears and eyes.

"Your hair color, your ears, your eye, the paleness of your skin, your abilities… Father never had those. And you know that. You always knew that Garon isn't your father, and neither was Sumeragi." He said. "We all knew, even before mother made those letters."

"W… what letters?"

"The truth. You're not Sumeragi's child."

Corrin was barely shocked, though he didn't know if it was because he always knew that or if despair's choking grasp made caring about that difficult.

"She came to our palace with a baby, and father and my true mother accepted her. He asked about your _true _father but she avoided it, so eventually, it was just dropped… and now that Mikoto has died by your fault, then it's unlikely that neither of us will know. Those letters that she left to us shortly before dying revealed all of that, but once more, no mention of your actual father."

Takumi's smile grew even wider. His rival, however, was now shaking, his eyes wide in anger. He could feel rage slowly releasing him out of the grasp of despair. He heard his voice, soft yet laced with venom, encourage him to embrace it, accept his anger and unleash all that pent-up aggression at his hated enemy.

"It made me think… maybe that's why you're so attached to those Nohrians, huh? Because they make you feel like someone special! Like someone who can be accepted! Like you're not the spawn of some unknown bastard who _abandoned them _because he knew that they'd bring nothing but trou…"

Nohr, Hoshido, Yato, Azura. All those things vanished in an instant. All that mattered to him, now, was to shut Takumi up. And, in an instant, Corrin rose from his spot, with such speed that Takumi still had his smile on when his "brother" furiously tore Fujin Yumi out of his hands before tossing it away.

He still had the smile on when Corrin grabbed him by the collar, and he barely had the time to drop it before Corrin furiously smashed him in the jaw with a punch.

…

**N/A **: An energetic cliffhanger! Will Corrin still be in a berserker rage when Beruka reach him in time? You have three days to find out, haha.

I know that Beruka probably come off as brutal near the end, but this _is _war and she is an assassin. I feel like trying to prevent her from doing her thing would hinder her and make her whole gimmick feel shallow.

Next chapter should be the end of the battle. I'm really, really, really looking forward to Nestra! The fic's overall mood will peak up right during and after it, promise! Oh, and for Hoshido, I'm almost surprised, since I wasn't corrected on it before. I'll try to fix that shortly!

What did you think of the chapter? I always appreciate reviews (so thanks for posting those, Hulu and Rome!)

See ya!


	12. The Chevois slaughter

Corrin's clenched fist sailed across the air once more and made a perfect landing on Takumi's chin, causing the prince to sail over a bush and briefly stumble on the ground before getting back up, with an utterly furious expression on his face. It didn't save him from promptly getting kicked in the chest, sending him stumbling again before he managed to somehow recover and get back on his feet, his eyes widening slightly when he realized that his brother was charging at him again, at such speed that the prince barely had the time to try and throw a punch.

However, the young man easily grabbed the fist thrown his way and hit Takumi in the stomach, causing the prince to bend over in pain. This made it much easier for Corrin to hammer him on the back of the head, slamming his "brother" right into the grass before kicking him in the ribs, once more hurling him around. Being ragdolled this easily further fueled Takumi's rage, and this time, he was the one who charged at Corrin, his bloodshot eyes glaring daggers at the blue-haired man.

Forgetting the hand-to-hand skills he learned back at Hoshido, Takumi attempted to ram Corrin in the shoulder but the dragon answer to that was… to simply hold his hand out, stopping his brother dead-on. He took the time to stare at the prince's horrified direction before hitting him in the face twice, staggering Takumi and allowing Corrin to kick him in the chest, once more hurling him into a tree and embedding him into the wood. The whited-haired prince attempted to pull himself out but before he could do so, the Nohrian slammed him deeper into the trees, seemingly taking him out of the fight and causing some shards to pierce Fujin Yumi's wielder, though they weren't big enough to threaten his life.

The blue-haired man simply stared at his near-unconscious brother and grabbed him by the scarf, holding him up with a contentious look on his face. His brother was bleeding heavily from the back of his head, his mouth and nose but it still wasn't enough. The bastard shot at Elise and tried to kill him and his friends multiple times already! If he wanted to be taken seriously by his father and his underlings, than he would need to do what needed to be done and execute his defeated foe.

He'd finally stop being kicked around by everyone. People would stop looking down on him or trying to pity him. He'd be accepted into Nohr, and he'd finally sever the last bonds tying him to Hoshido. This way, he'd finally accept Nohr as his true country, and would be fully absorbed into Garon's court, as a true prince of the dusk country, now free to shed the bloodline that wasn't his own.

So, why couldn't he do it? Why was his fist, still shrouded in his pent-up aggression, merely shaking? What force was preventing him from finishing his job? Why… why was he even thinking this? As Corrin returned to reason, his rage left his body, and he quickly backed away, looking at his bloodied gauntlets with a look of pure horror on his face. What was he about to do?

"Ah… ah… you… show your true personality…"

Takumi, left to lay against the tree, still had the strength to laugh. For a brief second, Corrin's anger returned, but he shook his head. As much as he wanted to cut loose, that… that wasn't his way. That was the way of Garon and Hans. Savagely beating Takumi to death would only prove his dreadful enemy correct, and his fa… the royals of Hoshido would never forgive him for that. And it's unlikely that his siblings would approve of such a vengeful beatdown, even on an enemy. Even on someone who had worked so hard to hurt him, either with words of arrows. People didn't follow him only because of his strength. They followed him because he _wasn't _a bloodthirsty brute. And he temporarily became one seconds ago.

But still… it was so frustrating not being able to cut loose and simply always attempt to remain above the abuse. He enjoyed being a good person, but he never realized just how tiring it was in a way, to never really be able to act differently. To always remain impartial and dignified no matter what was thrown at him, to never be able to ever snap or even take the time to cool down. This is why he admired Xander, amongst other things. No matter what, the prince always managed to come off as wise and dignified. As a child, he hoped he'd grow up to be like him. And even now, as an adult, he could only hope for a future where he would be half as assured and composed as his older brother.

Corrin stared at Takumi after marking his pause. "… I'm not the man you think I am." Said the victor of their brief brawl. "I understand your anger and your suspicions, and I know that you will probably never forgive me. But I do not want to burn Hoshido down, and I will not hurt its citizens or royal family. However, Nohr cannot go on without the resources that you have."

"…"

Takumi slowly began to get back up. Corrin didn't see it as a threat, and simply turned around, heading out near the spot where he began his rampage.

"The people of Nohr aren't evil. It's not a matter of black against white."

"Too bad the… evil ones are… ordering the "good" ones around." Mocked Takumi. "The war won't end diplomatically… Garon and his lackeys won't stop… and neither will we… for what has been done, we'll destroy Nohr…"

Corrin crouched and grabbed the Fujin Yumi. It felt like touching searing iron but he was tough enough to simply hold into it. He hoped he could find something to say, but it was quite true that Iago and the others would prevent any attempt at solving the matter diplomatically, and he couldn't just… walk up and murder him. Iago was a powerful mage, and the commander of Nohr's armies. Conspiring against him would be badly seen by the rest of the army and would be ground for execution.

"… Give that back."

"No, Takumi. I'm going to capture you and put you somewhere beyond Iago's reach. I won't kill you, like the cold-blooded murderer you think I am, but I won't simply let you walk back to Hoshido this time."

"Give that back you bastard! That's… that's my weapon! You can't take it! Not that!"

"Calm down, it's a bow."

Takumi leapt with the strength of someone who didn't spend the last minutes getting pummeled around, but Corrin simply grabbed him by the right arm, not even bothering to move. Preparing to deliver the knock-out blow, Corrin's left fist rose… and then, he stopped, letting out a strangled gasp as he felt something cold and sharp pierce through his flesh and armor. For some reason, this particular wound hurt the most, as if he needed just the smallest push to cross his pain threshold.

Looking down, he could see that a knife had been stabbed through a weak spot in the armor perhaps, its silver blade reflecting the light of the moon above in Corrin's eyes. Takumi had a disturbing smile on his face, but his hand shook ever so briefly before he attempted to continue. However, the dragon prince, in his shock, accidentally tightened his grasp on his arm. Takumi's sudden scream of pain, and the feelings of bones crumbling beneath his grip (something he'd probably never forget) startled him though, and that, along with the pain, caused him to drop Fujin Yumi and let go of Takumi's arm, shambling backward with his hand on his wound.

He was better off than he was against Ryoma, and Takumi was in a worse condition, but he still had to kneel on the ground, to try and regain his bearings. His foe dropped the blade he had been using to pick up the legendary weapon. He looked utterly manic, with a wide grin and wide eyes in spite of the blood over his face. His hair had come loose as well, gray soon making way for red because of his head wound. Blood and saliva dripped out of his mouth, though he attempted to quickly wipe it with the arm that wasn't limply moving around.

"My bow! It belongs to me!" Said Takumi. "Don't... don't get your hands over it! You don't deserve it!"

Takumi attempted to shoot him, but found it difficult with the use of only one arm. The prince should've used the opportunity to strike, but Takumi's pitiful state, his almost gibbering rage, the way he desperately tried to get his broken bones to work just to shoot him… in a way, it saddened the prince. Takumi was never his friend, even when they were allies, but he knew that he wasn't a bad person. He smiled when he was with his retainers or with his family, clearly loved Mikoto and, while he was stand-offish, never outright acted hostile to the young man. They were two princes of Hoshido, under the same roof, who loved their family very much.

And here they stood now. Two princes of Hoshido and Nohr, in a forest near a blazing town, locked in a fight to the death to try and protect their families.

"You!"

Takumi eventually stopped and slumped to the ground, tears leaking out of his eyes to coil with the blood seeping out of his wounds.

"How… how much more will you take away? My mother... my countrymen… my dignity! My weapon! What else will you burn to spite me?"

"I…"

Next to them, the two young men could hear something creaking. Looking to the left, Corrin could see… nothing, at first, though he heard the sound of dripping water. Confused, his eyes wandered around the darkness before he noticed that some water was indeed dripping in mid-air, flowing on an invisible surface. His gaze focused on where the water dropped and he briefly froze.

Next to the water, he could see footsteps.

Then, all of a sudden, the footsteps got much closer in an instant, and he heard the sound of armor clanking as the invisible foes approached him, and him only. Takumi, in the background, was as stunned as Corrin, though he got up on his feet and began to leave. Corrin prepared to stop him but his instincts warned him, and he leapt to the right, just in time to get a shallow little cut on his black armor!

"What the?!"

The dripping water shifted position, throwing some more liquid around. It splashed over the surface it was dripping from, and Corrin vaguely recognized the outline of a blade. This gave him the means to identify the threat, and he ducked before kicking away at the first invisible soldier. His foot successfully made contact with armor of a sort, and his unseen foe was promptly sent hurling towards a tree, with enough force to snap the tree in half upon impact!

The other invisible soldier, however, was more successful in his attack. Cold flesh ensnared Corrin's throat, and before he could begin to defend himself, he ended up slammed into the ground with great strength, causing him to cry out in surprise and pain. He could fell cold water drip on his neck, though he was more concerned with the other thing on his neck : an hand strong enough to shatter rock!

"Gah!"

Corrin grabbed an unseen wrist, and, out of options, attempted to crush it… but doing that did little to stop the death grip. Realizing that he was in danger, Corrin swung his other arm at the attacker, but the being stopped it in mid-air, causing the young prince to gasp : Only once had he been overpowered when he was seriously attempting to cause damage, and the strength that outmatched him belonged to Ryoma! And yet, this unseen soldier could match it?

Corrin struggled against his foe. "Takumi! R-run!" He said, in desperation, and knowing that Takumi wouldn't help even if he were willing to. In answer to this, the Hoshidan prince chose to flee, not even bothering with a glare. His victorious opponent would likely watch him go if it weren't for the sudden heavy weight on his other arm. While he would likely be able to lift such weight easily, the battle at Cheve proved to be quite draining, meaning that he could hardly wriggle his arm.

In the distance, he noticed that the second invisible soldier was walking towards him, apparently not that affected by being kicked into a three with enough force to outright destroy it. The soldier's sword was still dripping with water and was being lifted above his head, with the water slowly revealing more of him. He had a face, though it had no expression, and the shape of the armor resembled a Nohrian one. Getting curious over that fact when a sword was being brought to outright decapitate him, however, would be most foolish. Corrin kicked desperately but hit nothing but the air before he remembered the stone he had on him! His dragon form would surely be able to save him!

Briefly, Corrin's mind wandered unto the potential fallout of its usage of it. But then, he realized that he was in extreme danger and had no one to help him. The key to his salvation was in his pocket, so he tried to wriggle his hand to reach inside. The invisible soldiers didn't notice, though the second one was tightening his grasp, causing him to begin to gasp for air. As for his other arm, it felt like it was being ran over by a horse _and _the large carriage right behind it.

The footsteps appeared right next to his face, and water began to drip on his face as his fingers began to barely feel the stone's surface. The figure's sword rose, reflecting the light of the moon, and Corrin thought back of his days as a toddler in Castle Shirasagi, then in the Northern Fortress, then his gradual growing up with his siblings and retainers, his training with Xander, Camilla's cuddling, the introduction to Leo and Elise both shy in the face of an older sibling, the arrival at Windmire, Gunter's demise, Hoshido…

All his triumphs and defeats flashed before his eyes, and Corrin began to weep, failing in his last attempt at retrieving the stone.

"_I'm sorry everyone! So-_"

He expects to be cut off halfway through, but it doesn't happen. Soon, after a small pause, he dares to open his eyes… and notice his would-be executioner, once again struck into a tree. This time, though, "tree-hugger" has a massive spear in the middle of the chest pinning it against the tree, leaving to hang limply, the invisibility fading away to reveal a regular armored Nohrian.

The other invisible soldier didn't even react, and because of that, his mysterious rescuer had an easy time slamming into him, getting him off Corrin while the two mysterious beings, assailant and savior alike, roll along the grass together. Beruka, who had arrived right in the nick of time, managed to get back up first, owing to the soldier's sluggish movements, and immediately attempted to stab it using Takumi's fallen dagger. Instead of blood, it was water that came out of the stab holes, but they didn't really care about it yet.

The ethereal enemy attempted to lash out at the wyvern rider, but she dodged with great agility and leapt unto its back, roughly figuring out where it should be based on the spots she stabbed and the position of the arm that swiped at her. Immediately after landing, the grim Nohrian wrapped her legs around the soldier's torso and her arm around his neck and went to work on his face with the dagger. After enough hits, the invisibility faded away, revealing a man clad in Hoshidan armor this time.

Water still leaking out of his body, he fell forward and Beruka rolled off him, dropping the dagger. The retainer got up shortly afterwards and reached Corrin. She was visibly out of breath, but remained stone-faced, simply observing him.

As for him, he felt joy over being alive, and gratefulness at Beruka, but he also felt some weird emotions as he looked at her. One thought briefly crossed his mind.

"_Awesome."_

"Corrin, are you alright?"

He thought about his wounded body and broken spirit and shook his head. "No." And at that, she froze for a second or two, perhaps having expected a more generic answer. However, she still lifted him, albeit slowly, and then placed her arm around his back, and her hand on the middle of his torso to support him. As for him, he just put his arm on her shoulders.

He was surprised to see the wounds that she bore on her body, as a result of her fight with the two retainers. She didn't seems to mind her own injuries though, simply observing his own, for a brief moment, it looked like they were comparing just how nasty their own injuries were.

Corrin was the first to speak up. "You're wounded!"

"I haven't realized." She said. "What happened to…"

Before either could continue, they heard water dripping behind them : Slowly, they turned around, the bush in front of them moving around by magic to make way for what they guessed to be three soldiers… if not more. Corrin glanced around and while his senses couldn't detect any other soldier, he wasn't so sure that Beruka could handle them together at this point.

She obviously didn't think likewise, clenching her bloodied gauntlet, but the prince wasn't going to have her fight. Instead, he reached for his stone.

"On my signal, Beruka, please r…" He began to spoke, only to stop in surprise when a purple flame-like aura appeared on the three invisible fighters. While they were still opaque, this made them much easier to track, since they were only invisible for the span of a second. This revealed to the two Nohrians that the invisible soldiers were two Nohrians and one female Hoshidan. Beyond the grey skin and glowing purple eye, they looked normal, and their weapons and armors saw no changes.

This was the first surprise. The second made itself known when Corrin's senses warned him of an approaching figure. The group didn't hear it, and neither did Beruka, who was scanning the area for something to use.

"… Incoming!"

Right on cue, a huge black horse leapt out of the shadows, led by a most fearsome armored knight. The horse landed directly in the middle of the trio, with its owner swinging a silver sword at the first soldier, cutting them in half with ease. His mount proceeded to immediately kick at the Nohrian on the right, its powerful hooves striking the figure in the arm and chest and slamming them away.

The Hoshidan reacted by swinging her naginata, and briefly engaged the armored figure in a battle, though the knight promptly disarmed her with a mighty upwards swing of his sword : The weapon flew off her hands and the knight extended his hand to the sky, catching the naginata and using it to swiftly behead the weapon-less soldier. The weapon, curiously, didn't fade when its owner died, and the knight used it against on the last remaining soldier when he came charging for the mysterious warrior. With the most casual ease, the knight simply stabbed backward with the weapon, without even bothering to turn around, and shanked the mysterious being right in the neck. Even the horse didn't even bother acknowledging the threat.

Then, once he was done, he approached Corrin and Beruka.

His horse was large, in spite of its obvious agility, and well-armored in the colors of Nohr. A skull-like mask was used to protect its face, and its main body and parts of the legs had a black armor, making its large jumps even more impressive. As for the knight himself, he was clad in a large suit of black armor, usually reserved for the higher-ranked paladins of the kingdom. However, the symbol of Nohr wasn't present on his armor, something that the figure probably deliberately did. It did, however, possess a lot of unrelated signs all over the armor, though they both failed to identify what the signs meant.

He had a great helm on his face, with a tiny red piece of cloth, similar to a ponytail. He also probably had another mask on to avoid recognition. The figure had a silver sword (which he shook before sheathing, to get the water out) and an unused lance on his back. It looked a silver spear, but it had markings everywhere except the blade, the very tip of which had an unearthly light similar to the invaders.

Without speaking, the knight considered them and reached into a pouch strapped to its hips, pulling out two vulneraries and tossing them. Beruka and Corrin both grabbed them in time.

"… Thank you, sir knight." Declared a grateful Corrin. He prepared to drink the vulnerary but another gift was handled : the Naginata. Beruka almost refused it, but realized that her axes supply ran out and that Corrin, for some reason, was devoid of Yato. Thus, she let him drop the weapon at her feet.

She managed to speak. "Your help was appreciated." Admitted the assassin, though her pride took a blow at the idea of being rescued twice in the same night. In answer, the knight stared somewhere and left, his majestic mount vanishing into the night with him.

Prince and retainer stared into the void alike.

"That was cool!" Declared the prince, drinking the vulnerary head on. Beruka simply stared at him, in shock.

"Why would you drink it? It could be poisoned."

"Hm? Well, if he wanted us dead, he had something more straightforward than poison available, Beruka." Said Corrin. Beruka considered his advice and drank as well, recognizing that there was indeed no poison. Her wounds were dealt by weapons forged on this realm, so she was fine, but Corrin's gashes were present, though to a far lesser extent and to a point where he didn't mind them.

"… What happened?" She asked, letting go and grabbing the naginata.

"I don't know. I fought Takumi and he… he…"

Corrin looked around and searched the area, eventually finding what remained of his weapon's handle. Beruka stared, in brief shock. And for a moment or two, she almost thought of trying to console him.

"… Regrettable."

"Yeah, I… I just broke the sword of legends." He said. "Not a big deal, right?"

"I thought you would take it badly." She replied, not noticing his own sarcasm. He shook his head, and she realized that he, indeed, hadn't been meaning it.

"Apologies, Corrin. Perhaps we could seek counsel with Lady Camilla."

"No, we… I… it's better if we just hide it." He said. "And I'll… I'll ask Leo. He knows a lot of things about the magic of Dreiz."

"And what will happen should you be forced into a battle?" Corrin made a false smile and prepared to reply, but his usual self-doubt interfered and he ended up stopping once more, mid-smirk at that.

This was a test. He trusted her not to speak to Camilla. Camilla would trust her to speak to her about anything that would upset her little brother. Either way, she'd betray one's trust. Troubling. Were it anyone but Corrin, the choice would be easy, but she actually found herself struggling a little with the dilemma. She wasn't surprised though, even if having to deal with that mysterious feeling tired her.

Because it always won.

Groaning to herself, she began the dialogue. "I won't tell Lady Camilla." Said the smaller woman. "Sheath the sword and swap it for that brave sword you've bought, or even that spear. Once you've found Lord Leo, we could arrange things to organize a private meeting. A one-on-one talk with your brother, for instance."

"R-right." He said. "Phew… thank the dusk dragon you're there to keep me from panicking!"

"Yes. You would have made a mistake." Was her reply, and he shifted his feet awkwardly, as he began walking away with her.

"So… I managed to beat Takumi but those soldiers distracted me at the last second. I… kind of broke his arm so he probably won't be chasing us."

"You broke his arm? Hm." Beruka took the time to think. "Efficient way to disable an archer…"

Silence.

"What were those monsters?"

"I remember Rigeaux talking about invisible soldiers, maybe he meant those? They were weird, yeah… that knight seemed to be targeting them, and huh, I think he was also spotted in the area."

"Strange." She pondered. And silence settled again.

"… Thanks for saving my life by the way." He replied. "And, I'm sorry about Sirius, he…"

Beruka cut him off "Consider this a debt repaid. You pulled me out of the water earlier, after all. As for Sirius, he…"

She hesitated showing weakness, even in front of him. Having to admit to herself that Sirius's death actually had an impact was impacting enough, and her pride had been hurt enough today. The blue-haired girl needed to save her face, and prevent herself from being seen as weak. What assassin would cry over the death of a simple beast, after all?

"… He did his work to the bitter end."

"I see… still, it's kind of sad. He was pretty tough!"

"He wasn't enough at the end."

Corrin briefly looked shocked, but then shook his head. Eventually, they arrived near the wood's entrance, back into Cheve proper. The young man breathed in relief, perhaps eager to lay down and rest after his harrowing experience… but he smelled something, and furrowed his eyebrows. Then, Beruka herself looked up, and saw that the night sky managed to gain a crimson edge to it.

"W-was it the fire? I gotta go and see!" Corrin spoke in surprise, before running off. Beruka simply followed suit.

…

Scarlet's absence at the entrance of the woods barely bothered the duo. What did, however, was the fact that half of Cheve was ablaze. Chevois civilians were desperately running out of the "intact" part of the city with their belonging, while Nohrian soldiers were dragging the wounded rebels or Hoshidan across the streets, or simply disposing of the bodies by throwing them into one of the massive fires.

Amongst the burning buildings, Nohrian soldiers were eagerly slaughtering the citizens or deliberately chasing them towards buildings. They had special black uniforms, with spikier shoulder-guards and helmets stylized like a wolf's head. By contrast, the members of his own army were standing guard near the town. Some soldiers looked confused or even shocked but most were grimly accepting what was happening. Beruka herself was more surprised at Hans's early arrival.

"Oh, Corrin! You… my, you're hurt!" Said Camilla, running right at them. The prince turned towards her quickly. "It's nothing! What's going on, Camilla? Why are those soldiers killing the Chevois?!"

"It-"

"Lord Corrin!"

The town's lord ran up to them, and the prince's eyes widened slightly in regret as the town's lord arrived right next to the trio, in obvious panic.

"P-please help us! Our city is being sacked!"

"I will!" Reassured Corrin. "I'll deal with those murderous thugs immediately! Let's get to Hans!" He said, exhaustion gone from his voice. The dragon prince immediately began looking around and his sharp senses eventually found Hans : The bald brute was holding up a civilian by the neck with one hand, and holding his bloody axe with the other, letting out a triumphant laughter.

"Good work lads! But don't get too hasty! We've got one half of a town! Take your time or we'll be stuck with the boring part before you know it!"

"HANS! HANS! YOU BLOODTHIRSTY ANIMAL, STOP!" yelled Corrin, promptly running at him. Camilla held her hand out, but the dragon prince quickly made his way over to the captain. The bald man, upon turning around, rolled his eyes up to the sky and let out an annoyed sigh, before simply throwing the citizen into a wall, his neck snapping on impact.

"Hey milord! Hell of a work with those eastern apes! I'm gonna admit, I was a bit scared when I saw that plume of fire in the distance. I thought you were hogging all the fun!" He greeted cheerily. Corrin failed to initially answer, and Beruka thought that he was actually going to attack the bald man for a second or two.

"Stop! Please! Stop right now!"

"Oh, can't do milord! Wouldn't be proper to stop my men after they got themselves started." He said, pointing with his thumb at his soldiers. "See, they don't give a damn about the money or the glory, they just like raiding and killing. Heh, that's why I picked 'em!"

"Well, you're going to disappoint them very much then! Stop this! Y… your prince is telling you to stop!"

Hans briefly looked shocked, bringing his hand to his mouth and leaning back.

"Ahhh, we're in a bit of a situation then! See, my prince is telling me to stop something that my _King _told me to do!"

"What?!"

Camilla finally caught up. "Hans is right. My… my father ordered him to burn half of Cheve to the ground, to punish them for the uprising."

"W-what?! Why didn't you tell me?"

The usually confident princess found herself struggling with her words "I… I never thought that they would catch up so fast, my dear…"

"Milady, when we noticed that you were really hurried, we couldn't help but catch up!" Grinned Hans. "Shame our messenger was too slow… but don't ya worry, we'll take over! Lord Corrin is obviously in dire need of some rest and a warm drink!"

"N-no, no! I don't care that father has told you to do that! I'm… I'm challenging you to a Praxys!"

Camilla gasped, Beruka frowned and Hans's grin stretched into a hideous smile, demonstrating teeth sharper than they should be. Afterwards, he attempted to tone down his resemblance to a shark, leaning forward to look at Corrin dead in the eyes.

"I'd gladly accept your challenge, but you're going to need the approval of a nearby superior." He said. "And you're bleeding pretty bad, might not wanna pick a fight with me in that state, milord!"

Camilla spoke slowly and griped Corrin's shoulder to prevent him from doing anything he'd regret. "As a superior, I utterly refuse to give my approval! Corrin! Hans is… executing father's orders."I was hoping that we would address this later, but alas…"

Corrin wasn't listening though, seemingly preparing himself to pull out Yato to fight Hans anyway. Seeing a foolish decision coming, Beruka grabbed the sheath of the ruined sword in silence, and slowly nodded left and right, to try and convince him not to. The dragon prince took more time to back down than she thought he would, but alas, he stopped himself. Hans smiled, and began to walk out.

"Well, I've got things to kill and burn! Don't worry Lord Corrin, I'll be thinking about Gunter when we get to the elders!"

The bald man turned around and walked off, leaving a trembling Corrin behind.

"Corrin, my dear, I know that this is very hard for you but…"

"L-Lord Corrin! The town is still burning, help!"

Camilla winced when she saw Rigeaux run up to them. Corrin looked barely aware of his surroundings, shakily turning around to face him.

"We… we will deal with this, I…"

"Please, they're killing my people! Cheve won't recover from this! You have to help!"

"I'm sorry, Rigeaux, this is the King's orders."

"The king… why? The rebels have already been beaten! Why must Nohr once again terrorize Cheve?"

Camilla stood silent, and Corrin simply kept breathing harder. Beruka attempted to approach him but he was backing down towards an alley, clutching his head. Seeing this, Rigeaux opted to follow him.

"You… you lied to us! You promised to help us but you're just a pawn to that tyran! Both of you! It's because of your inaction that men like these can get away with their crimes!"

"I… I know, but we… I change Nohr, I…"

"Changing? How?! By simply letting it happen?! At least Scarlet was brave enough to stand up to Nohr's tyranny!"

"Where is she?" Asked Beruka, not entirely satisfied with the situation. To that, he replied by pointing at another alley, with a grim look on his face. It wasn't set on fire at the very least.

"Made an example of, along with the survivors." He said. "You don't want to see."

"… Let's save her, then." Whispered Corrin. The prince turned around and began walking towards the alley. "We'll need to get water to extinguish the flames, too."

"Dear, wait." Said Camilla, worried. Beruka frowned, and began to follow him, positioning herself behind him. Rigeaux simply sat down, exhausted and not caring much about where the prince was going. Then, finally, he got up, briefly admiring the burning town to better reflect on his failure. Once done, his eyes set upon a distracted Hans at the end of the street, and he sighed.

"Milord. I can tell that you are, at heart, a good person… I can tell that you never meant to lie, even. So… I hope that you will never forget what you saw. If you decide to rebel against Garon, then the flames of Cheve shall serve as a reminder of what you are fighting for, and will help you when the time to execute them will come. Shall you remain under him though, than may the ashes of my town and the blood of people forever follow you, until your bones crumble to dust. Farewell."

With that, Rigeaux got up, pulled out a hidden knife, and ran at Hans, intending to try and take him down. Corrin stared without even flinching, and for a second Beruka thought that he grew used to carnage… but then, his eyes glazed over, and he fell over, forcing the young woman to catch him before he could hit the ground.

Camilla turned her eyes away from the scene, stopping at the moment where Hans noticed the incoming lord, and reacted with horror upon seeing her dear little brother unconscious in Beruka's arms.

"Corrin! Corrin! Corrin…"

...

Garon's armored carriage came in Cheve the next morning, taking the main road through the town, half of it being nothing but smoking ruins. Hans's troops, the "dogs of war", were stationed amongst the debris, whereas Corrin's army was present near the more intact side. Corrin himself was missing, but Camilla filled in for him, which Garon didn't seem to mind.

The Nohrian flag floated above the city hall. It was a part of the dusk country now, weakened as it was.

The king didn't seems to really care about the city. He didn't stop his carriage nor did he bother even greeting his subjects. From behind his black windows, the king observed Cheve's pitiful state and deemed it enough. Iago was left behind, using his illusion to contact the armies.

"King Garon is most pleased with your performances at Cheve! He is truly impressed with Lord Corrin especially, but your skills in battle and loyalty to Nohr proved key in repelling the eastern horde! As a reward, you are invited to Nestra, where you will all be free to celebrate the annihilation of Hoshido's attack force! The King will have a great announcement to make at the opera, where you are also invited!"

The Nohrians in the scene cheered, with some exceptions, though Iago didn't notice the likes of Nyx or Beruka amongst the crowd, obviously too pleased with the positive reception to care.

"I trust that you will enjoy yourselves in Nestra! Remember not to exaggerate, for Garon will have a great audition to make, and should you prove embarrassing in public, then you will be executed, hehe!"

No one laughed this time, even if Iago intended it as a joke, because it was certainly close to reality.

Iago coughed, embarrassed by his failure to entertain the crowd. "Good day."

…

The ambiance was a mix of hesitation and relief. Hans's deployment wasn't a surprise : Nohr had special units meant to raid weakened towns or take care of the nastier aspects of war. When the civilians were packed somewhere, then it was up to the "dogs of war" to yank them out and hold them hostage, for instance. Everyone in the army knew what was going to happen as soon as they saw their special uniform.

However, burning half of Cheve was a bit… excessive. It had been done before, but it was agreed that the city could perhaps gift resources or manpower to the dusk nation. Wiping out half of it was very counter-productive, and brutal on top of that. While their nation branded itself as a conquering empire, Corrin's soldiers were only humans after all, and perhaps their time with him had softened them a little. With that in mind, most were just relieved to get to relax, and the mood was pretty optimistic even with the above hesitation.

Some soldiers, however, didn't join in the celebration. Beruka, for instance. While the young woman wasn't a party-goer at all, she had been a ghost for the last few hours, avoiding her fellow retainers whenever she could and skillfully moving around the camp. Selena had tried to trap her a few times, but the assassin knew how she'd be tracked, and acted accordingly.

As of right now, her current location was near Sirius's former stable, now crushingly empty. No, not _crushingly._ His… its demise was tragic, but Camilla had already promised her a new wyvern, and Beruka accepted the news. Beside, she was an assassin, why would she spend so much time thinking about that wyvern?

He and Corrin switched places in her thought. When she wasn't dwelling on the wyvern-shaped void in her life, she thought of the prince, put in his "castle" dimension to be taken care of. Beruka played aloof, opting not to propose to watch over him, but the bandana-wearing woman often found herself regretting that choice, even when she knew that he could recover from a little faint.

The events at Cheve had put him on the cusp of despair. The broken Yato, Hans's rampage and the battle in general had put him at his limits physically and mentally after all. So far, Beruka had managed to keep Yato, having proposed to keep it with her for the sake of the "battle buddy" experiment, and Camilla accepted. That blue-haired woman sometimes dwelled near Beruka, perhaps to talk about it, but the young woman avoided her like the others.

So far, it was hidden in her (small) room within a wagon. She didn't trust that somebody wouldn't find another hiding spot per accident, and she always locked the door. And, as stubborn as they were, the others wouldn't dare breaking into it. Well, Niles would, which is why she planned on returning to put some security promptly. She would've done it before leaving, but the assassin was distracted at the moment, preventing her from being thorough in securing her sanctuary.

This bothered her when she noticed. Beruka was a fearsome assassin. An axe-wielding warrior who had been killing when most of the soldiers in the army were struggling to fully read a sentence. For her thoughts, which were usually ordered and neat, to be so easily invaded by a dead wyvern and a naïve prince was most frustrating. But she couldn't, _wouldn't, _just let them be apparently.

However, even with those distractions, she was still a sharp warrior. And she could still hold her hand out to point at the darkness of a nearby empty stable.

She said nothing, though her pride recovered a little.

"It took you a little while, milady."

Forget it.

"Hm… if you wish to reveal my location to the others, know that I will be gone by then."

Kaze smiled. "I will not go and reveal your location, that would be uncouth. I simply want to talk with you." He said. Looking at him, she could see that he switched to some Nohrian clothes : black pants, a turtleneck shit with light armor on it, and some gauntlets and light shoes. His scarf was still there, but otherwise, he looked more Nohrian already… in spite of his skin (of more healthy color) and gentle face. Most Nohrians tended to have a sharp or rugged edge to them, in contrast with Hoshido.

She looked away, not moving from her cross-legged position at a corner of the room. "I do not appreciate idle chat. Go away."

He chuckled. "It's good to see that you're still as blunt as ever. However, believe me, I am not looking to talk about the weather." He said, leaning against a wall with his arms folded. "You seem to be affected by something. And, as your battle buddy, it is up to me to help you with it."

"I do not want nor need it. I have dealt with most of my problems by myself, after all."

Kaze chuckled again. "I am quite used to being told that by somebody I know. Beruka, trust me, the problem that is affecting you is best dealt with dialogue. And in Lord Corrin's absence…"

"It always come back to him around here." Said Beruka. "Are you expecting me to burst down in tears and confess that I am worried about him?"

"No, I am expecting you to tell me something I do not already know."

The assassin allowed a shadow of annoyance to pass across her face. He read her like an open book.

"He is quite well, and I do not need to fear for his safety. He's merely passed out from shock and was up on his feet after some hours." She said. "Let us talk about something else if you absolutely wish."

"Fine, hm… I'm quite confused. Why would an assassin fly around on a wyvern?" He asked. "Surely there are stealthier options."

"There are, and I use them often. Wyverns are more efficient than one would think though. When up in the air, they are quite fast. When my target is sufficiently out in the open or near a window, it is quite easy for the beast to quickly reach the individual before the security can react, allowing me to easily kill my mark before escaping."

"And what about archers, may I ask?"

"They are a threat, but in most cases, people do not expect the assassin to use a wyvern." Answered Beruka. "But in those cases, I observe the archers patterns, take them out and then get to work. I only need to take out the last of them before calling the beast to my location…" Described Beruka. "However, I do not use them too much. It's a gimmick, and as I said, having a gimmick is outright begging to get killed."

"This makes sense. Why in combat then? You didn't need a wyvern to… defeat Orochi and Reina, and I can confirm that those were excellent fighters."

"A wyvern is much more mobile than an horse, is more durable, can assist in battles and can even easily carry troops. It is quite useful to own one." Answered Beruka. "I am quite skilled at battling but without Sirius… I… cannot move around the battlefield to finish off a weakened unit or support an ally."

"Sound reasoning. However, if you'd like, I could introduce you to the way of a shinobi." Said Kaze. "You are skilled with throwing, quite agile and strong and you know your way with stealth. Were you born in Hoshido, you would certainly be a great kunoichi."

She scoffed briefly but considered his proposal. "Know your enemy' is a good way to operate in war, and while they knew a lot about ninjas, perhaps Kaze would share something more.

"… Very well. However, for reasons mentioned above, I will continue operating as a wyvern rider."

Kaze shook his head, quite pleased. "Those skills are quite useful. They will be of much help if you find yourself fighting on foot again."

"Good."

Silence ensued, and Beruka got up, to prepare her voyage towards her cabin. Kaze, however, wasn't done.

"If I have another question to ask… why do you serve under Lady Camilla, may I ask?"

"I took a contract on her and she defeated yet spared me. I follow her. Easy."

"I see, hm… when was this done, if I may ask?"

She briefly looked around, but figured it would still be harmless, yet.

"I was… around 12 years old. Lady Camilla was 15." She said.

"Hm, you've known her for a while then."

"Yes, but I only became her retainer two years ago. I helped her with some contracts and we… kept in touch but I found her overbearing."

"Very well… I am quite surprised, why would someone send a child so young to carry out such a task though?"

Beruka stared, and simply began walking away. Kaze's hand rose, but the assassin opened the door… and promptly got her hand caught by Selena, who was awaiting outside! She smiled gingerly, ignoring just how close her fellow retainer was to instinctively headbutt her in the nose for her surprise attack.

"I'm sorry Lady Beruka, but… it appears that I've informed them before our conversation." Said Kaze, with an amused little smirk.

"You're not escaping this time Beruka! Firstly, you're going to promise your participation to our girl's night-out at Nestra! Here and now, or else I'll never let go of your arm!"

"Absurd. I shall not participate to this."

"Aw come on! Camilla said you should! And it's an order!"

"… Then I shall go. Be careful with your second suggestion, though, or else you…"

"Oh, Lord Corrin's there! Come and say hi since I know that you love hanging around with him!"

Beruka would be angered at the sheer disrespect thrown her way (the interruption, the flippant behavior and the last part of her sentence) but the news of Corrin's return did intrigue her. She briefly pondered checking it out herself, but… perhaps she's been neglecting her duty as "battle buddy". Perhaps it could help her think about something else than a prince and a flying lizard, or perhaps she was looking for practical excuses to do something she knew she wouldn't like.

"Let us go, and stop grasping my arm."

"Sure will, Beruka!"

…

Corrin's return wasn't as dramatic as Selena hyped him up to be. He was already there by the time they arrived, and after having Yato returned to him, he simply talked to people, almost acting like the carnage in Cheve was a dream of a sort. Azura followed him around like a shadow, as if expecting him to fall over again, but he never did.

Beruka was bothered by the blue-haired woman's presence, but she didn't bother to try and chase her away. Corrin did come to see her though, after talking to the others. He seemed… happier than before, but she could still see that it was a lie. She could see his shaky smile or the way he looked around at times, as if expecting Hans to jump out of the darkness to attack.

"Hey, Beruka! Are you alright?"

"Hm… yes?" She replied, not quite knowing when to reply, and not having that much interest in idle chat.

"Oh, great! Then, erm, would you mind if you and I went to see each other at Nestra? Maybe not immediately since I think we'll be busy, but…"

"Hmm… is this for the sake of our war-buddying?"

He smiled and raised his thumbs. "Yeap! And there's a surprise, too!"

In answer, she frowned. "A surprise?"

"Yes, you'll… you'll see. Erm, anyway, take care!"

And with that, he was gone. To her surprise, Beruka found herself wishing for a longer interaction, but that would perhaps happen later… once she was done with the "girls's night out" planned by Selena. The redhead had managed to recruit a lot of the army's women, including Peri. The other girls didn't mind it too much though, perhaps expecting Selena to handle the madwoman should she decide to gut a random customer over petty reasons.

Beruka retreated once more, and waited until the arrival to Cyrkensia, about two days later.

Cyrkensia was a beautiful town, even from afar. The city's famous opera laid at the very center of it, surrounded by opulent buildings. The streets below were full of bars or hotels (to the point where the town perhaps had more tourists than it had actual inhabitants), making it the ideal place for a bunch of tired Nohrians to swarm in their search for fun and alcohol. In preparation for Garon's arrival, the whole city had decided to stock up on provisions apparently.

He was a frequent visitor of the city, owing to it being the place where Katerina, Xander's mother and a beloved queen, was born. The founders of Nestra were Nohrian settlers who wished to embrace a less war-like lifestyle, and as a result, they had a close relationship with the war-like nation. However, they had little army on their own, and Nohr was expected to come to their aid should a hostile nation attack.

The capital city, Cyrkensia, had tried to form an army in the past, but Nohr would always protest, and as a result, their "army" was made out of skilled guards who could hold their line against invaders while Nohrian forces were on their way. However, those guards, skilled as they were, failed to contain the golden hordes of Qliphoth, and the city was destroyed before Nohr could get there, with the nobles and royals fleeing beforehand. Nohr, like with Cheve, overlooked the renovation, and added some of their dark flair to the city (with Pre-Nohr renovation Nestran items being quite sought out).

Later on, Nestra would be used as a base of operation for Nohr to carry on attacks against Qliphoth or repel them, and King Garon often visited it in his childhood, where he met with Katerina. His black fleet would later depart from the capital for the fateful trip to Qliphoth, where Garon and Katerina, at the tender age of 23 and 22 respectively, utterly annihilated the invaders, ending their reign of terror once and for all.

He would visit it quite often afterwards, especially its famous opera, even after her eventual death.

That book on Nohr that she bought at Macarath was quite informative at least. Beruka, however, cared little for Cyrkensia, and remained in her room to sharpen her weapons up until the very end of the voyage, where the wagons were brought to a large white building near the entrance of the city. Once in the building, the soldiers were told to go to a large white room, where Iago stood once again. Upon arriving, though, most were confused to see a smaller third regiment in the room, made solely out of dark mages, sorcerers and their ilk.

The three royals put themselves at the center of the room, and the soldiers observed the white podium, where an apparition of Iago emerged.

"Soldiers of Nohr! You have worked well! I have no intention to hold you back any further from enjoying yourselves. However, I must remind you of three things : No… indignities in the city, you must all head for the opera in about four hours to witness some of the most _exquisite _pieces of art on the continent and you will be accompanied by my own personal squadron."

He pointed at all the mages. Their commander was a small dwarfish man with a green skin, a jester hat, and a customized dark mage outfit. Noticing that all the eyes in the room were set on him, he waved awkwardly.

"Those soldiers were key in developing that cloaking spell that allowed us to approach Macarath, and they defended our dear citizens against the dreaded Ninjas of Hoshido, I trust that you will give them the respect they deserve! Now go, and enjoy yourselves, for you've all earned it! Oh, and Hans, no murder, no raiding, and the rest."

With that, Iago vanished, and the "dogs" were the first to leave the room, almost howling in joy. This left Corrin's army and the magic unit, most of whom simply banded together before departing orderly.

"Well girls and boys! I'm going to see my father." Said Camilla. "Have fun, and don't forget the opera visit!"

Camilla left, and ruckus ensued as the soldiers began to head out into squads. Corrin, who intended to simply find a quiet spot, found himself accosted by Silas, who was seemingly contacting him on behalf of Niles.

"Hey, Corrin. Would you like to come down with us at a bar? You… didn't exactly had it easy the past weeks, so we thought that a, erm." He put on a deeper voice. "A bar with the boys, ohlordIreallycantdothatvoiceright, erm, would be welcomed."

Corrin hesitated slightly, but accepted. He did need to wind down, and that could help in socializing with the men. "Sure thing, Silas! Who's in it?"

"Oh, Niles, Odin, Laslow, Arthur, Benny, quite a few of our soldiers, huh… Kaze… we're all a bit worried for you, so I'm glad that you accepted! Come on, let's go!" Said Silas, looking as happy as a dog would after fetching a ball. However, before they could leave, a small voice interrupted them.

"Erm… hello milord Corrin. Would you mind if joined your party?" Said the small man. Silas blinked, having thought that the magician would simply leave with his own crew. However, he actually looked like he was left behind, which pushed Corrin to quickly give his answer.

"Of course! What's your name, my friend?"

"Oh, I'm Zola! Thank you for accepting!"

"Well, Zola, welcome to the crew." Said Silas, as accepting as his friend. The three men left to join their group. Beruka, meanwhile, was staring at the scene, arms folded. She would need to consult Corrin later than she thought, and that somewhat frustrated her. The assassin disliked having things hidden away from her, and hoped that she wouldn't need to wait long for the surprise.

But the woman with the bandana had her own problems to deal with, like the fact that she had her own party to attend.

"C'mon girls! Let's head out!" Said Selena, earning herself the approval of her colleagues, with some choice exceptions like Nyx or Beruka herself.

Elise was especially happy about it. "Yay! My first night out!"

Beruka found herself wishing for a surprise attack on the city.

…

**N/A **: This definitely took more time than I thought it would, haha! But now, we're in Chapter 14, and the pacing will pick up!

Corrin would've perhaps done what you've suggested in other circumstances rome! But since he was pretty tired and just saw his sword get shattered to pieces, he wasn't in a condition where he could handle that reveal. (And even then it would probably be more of a nervous laugh).

That was kinda long and I apologize, but the next chapter should be lighter. I've been looking forward to writing it! I hope you'll enjoy the interactions that will happen in there.

How was the chapter? What did you think of the events that happened? Reviews are helpful!

See ya later!


	13. Mayhem at the Nestran Bars

It took the men a little while to find a bar, owing to the fact that the other squads were already occupying them and they wished to "stay together" and not share the fun with the savage soldiers of Hans. As a result, Corrin had the time to look around and glance at the city life that was unfolding around him, full of bright lights, crowd and loud noises. It was… oddly appreciable.

Briefly, he thought that this is what he wanted to see when he gazed out of his old fortress, and what he hoped would happen should Nohr be able to get the resources and help that it needs to thrive on. Instead of having to hide in fear of bandits and live on whatever resources they could afford, Nohrians could actually enjoy the sun and thrive on their crops, instead of needing the supports of other countries, such as Nestra, to attempt to continue living on.

His mind wandered into another topic but he quickly shook his head and approached Kaze instead, in an attempt to engage in a conversation with the Hoshidan. He'd be curious about how the green-haired man would react to the sight of life at the other side of the barrier. Fortunately for him, the ninja wasn't hiding around this time. However, he was still standing near the end of the line, his eyes darting everywhere to better observe his surroundings.

The young man hesitated about using his name, even with the ruckus going around them, so he greeted Kaze with a "hm, hey! So, what do you think of Cyrkensia?" He said.

"It's… fascinating." Admitted the ninja. "Dizzying, even. I hope that you will not chide me if I end up passing out from all these lights."

Corrin chuckled in answer. "I might actually pass out first!" He teased. "I thought I'd have an harder time with the city life but it's inspiring me, in a way."

"That is good to hear." Said Kaze. "Though, and I apologize for my rudeness, this further push my conviction with helping Nohr."

"You've seen Windmire, after all."

"Indeed. By comparisons, its streets are quite empty. This proved to be a startling sight at first."

"But, I'm confused. Hoshidans and other nations know of Nohr's state, right? And Windmire is called "the silent city" in some other countries, according to the book. Why is nobody helping?"

Kaze looked around, to see if anyone was listening on them, but thankfully most were busy pointing out bars or pointing out some nearby beautiful women. The ninja, having deemed the coast clear, began talking again.

"Nohr is seen as an aggressive country, and in Hoshidan propaganda, it is considered that the blight that has been affecting our country was unleashed to spite the invaders."

"Yeah… I've been told that, but I don't know why people would say that. This doesn't fit with Nohr's culture of fighting to the last if they need, and if they could unleash such destruction, surely they could reverse it."

"Valid points, but the average Hoshidan is unfortunately unlikely to consider them. Not because they happen to be uneducated of course. It is a matter of growing up being taught to hate someone : Once you are told, as early as the crib, that people are your enemies and will stop at nothing to destroy you, it is easy to accept subsequent negative views on them." Declared Kaze. "And there is a concept of unity in Hoshido that make it hard for its people to dissociate the ruler and the people he leads. The average warrior of Hoshido believe that the our army is made out of people like Hans."

Corrin winced, realizing the work ahead of him. "This put things into perspective. Having to solve all that resentment will be troublesome."

"That is true. Hoshido and Nohr have always been rivals. It's certain that the continent could benefit from an alliance but as of right now, Nohr has to be saved from the blight that threatens it." He said, taking a brief pause. "By the way, milord, I would like to talk with you later, would you…"

"Bar to the left, boys!"

Before they could continue, Kaze and Corrin were interrupted were Silas, who was eagerly pointing out at a nearby bar. Inside, the young man could see the bartender hurrying to put more chairs and tables. The bar right next to it was also trying to vainly prepare for the raging tide of Nohrians preparing for a good time. Since he was seemingly having a slightly harder time, the army went for his neighbors instead, with an outlaw attempting to slam the doors open!

"YEAH! You better prepare because Nohr's in the place!"

"A-ah! Of course, of course! Make yourselves at ease!"

The bar was fairly big, though the regular clients wisely decided not to attend tonight. A massive table was commandeered as a result, and Corrin sat at the end of it. Most of the Nohrians then just decided to scatter over it. For a bunch of experienced soldiers, they looked positively giddy, especially when they saw the number of drinks available to them. The only one who wasn't surprised at this was the prince himself and Kaze, who looked almost amused.

"Check this out! They've got so many drinks!" Commented an eager soldier.

"Oooohhh man! Too bad we can't get drunk for this one!"

"Gentlemen." Spoke Niles. "Come on now, we've defeated the Hoshidans and rebels countless times, you can all take a drink!"

The outlaw smiled gingerly and got on the table, raising a cup of wine and briefly taking on mannerisms similar to Iago's. Corrin didn't comment on this, but that was actually some fine acting. He briefly contemplated lifting the table before realizing that this could perhaps cause some minor confusion, to understate it.

"My deeeaaarrrr Nohrian frienddsss! Today, we shall be fighting a war against a most devious foe! Take up your arms and raise them against our enemy : Sobriety!"

"Niles, I'm sure that this is fun but be careful! You know how, erm, serious father is with his rules."

"Of course! Of couurrsse! But should we get… a bit too drunk, then we'll spend the last hours searching for our dear healers to cure our little condition! It should be easy, just one wave of the staff and it'll be over! Beside, after those harrowing trials, we should have this reward."

Corrin vaguely took a thinking position.

"You're… right, I guess." He said. He didn't want to be the party pooper, and he also thought that granting his men their "reward" would probably please them. The prince sighed and smiled at the immediate cheering from most of the people on the table. He prepared to just order a glass of water, since he didn't really feel like being drunk, but then he quickly had a change of mind.

The young man was about to meet Garon (who had been rather _specific _in his demands) and had several troubling things happen to him in a row some nights ago, relating to his birthright or role in the overall grander scheme of things. That, and he was worried about his image now : somewhere, he thought that he'd need to project an image of being a tough prince to convince his soldiers not to try to pry unto whatever he was doing, and boldly drinking alcohol was something that he's been wanting to do for a little while.

"I'll… I'll take your, erm, toughest stuff bartender!" He said. "To, huh, celebrate!"

Nile's smirk grew wider and a spark of interested appeared in his uncovered eye."Now now, are you sure Lord Corrin? I think we can all agree here that bar rampages are fun, but when they involve a royal, they're better off from a safe distance."

Silas, meanwhile, leant forward in surprise. "You're going to drink, Corrin?"

"Yeah… but don't worry though, I can probably handle it." He said, smiling. The men around him seemed to cheer, seemingly buying into his boasts. The confused bartender briefly glanced at Corrin and, perhaps not daring to go against the order of royalty (nice as it looked), opted to bow out and simply acquire the alcohol, though he first started by serving the soldiers. This bought Zola, who sat next to Corrin, more than enough time to charge into a conversation, thinking perhaps that the prince would be unable to answer him after consumption (or would only reply by drunkenly attempting to recite some folk's song he heard at Macarath).

"Milord! I've always wanted to meet you." Said Zola. "You may not be aware of it, because… people are rarely aware of me, but we were both at Macarath!"

"Yeah, Iago told us! You're behind that invisible soldier army, right?"

"That would be quite correct, milord! I developed that spell with some of Nohr's greatest wizards! It took us quite some time, but without it, approaching Macarath would've been harder!"

"You're correct. You really saved our hide back then." Admitted Corrin. "I'm sorry about our sudden unexpected attack on the city, by the way, it must've thrown your plan into a loop."

"No no no milord! If anything, you made it easier! You single-handedly used a dragon vein to bust down the gates and then fended off the high prince himself, preventing him and his cronies from fending off the assault or cowardly threatening our resources!"

Corrin, who had been leaning back on his chair, went back in the conversation quickly, with a look of intrigued on his face. "Fended off?"

"Well yes. You dueled Ryoma and made him flee, bravely taking wounds that would have killed a lesser man in the process! The whole country has heard of it by now! Let me… ah!"

Zola snapped his fingers and made a book appear in his hands. Upon opening it (Corrin could see that it had a lot and lot of notes), he made a triumphant "ah-ah!" and pulled out a drawing.

It depicted Macarath's garden, but with a triumphant Corrin at its center. The young man's appearance had been changed to make him bigger and muscular, and Yato was now a mighty sword easily the size of Elise (which made his heart sank a little). He was wounded but depicted as triumphant nonetheless, pointing the finger at Ryoma and some fleeing Hoshidan, in the middle of being chased away by the Nohrians. Like Corrin above, the brave soldiers of Nohr looked like they managed to stuff a bull in their armor before battling.

Corrin had a golden halo around his head, and at least two helpless women clinging at his feet. All the better to contrast with Ryoma, depicted here as a thin bully with an armor too big for his frail body, who could be seen ordering for his dwarfish men to shield him while he fled (though some were fleeing away from their lord instead). Raijinto was more akin to a sharp razor than anything, to the point where the dragon prince wondered how the deified version of himself was so heavily wounded in a fight with the High-Prince depicted here.

Below the image there was a text. Some small additions had been added.

"Through the combined efforts of **PRINCE CORRIN, LADY CAMILLA **and the **CLEVER IAGO **and zola, the Hoshidan forces once more taste **DEFEAT SUPREME **at Macarath! Having heard of the brutality that struck this **POOR HELPLESS TOWN,** Prince Corrin immediately decided to fly there to end this injustice in a manner **MOST NOHRIAN, **by challenging **COWARDLY RYOMA**! Gravely **WOUNDED **when the fiend targeted the loved **PRINCESS ELISE**, our lord still **PREVAILED** and a most daring **MANOEUVER** performed by **IAGO **and zola repelled the eastern threat! We can only hope that Ryoma and his troops all performed the barbaric **SUICIDE RITUAL **performed in blighted Hoshido, for his loss was most severe and dishonorable!"

Corrin read up again and lowered the paper, to better look at a bashful Zola. He looked almost eager to see what Corrin thought of it, and the prince was… fairly disgusted about the propaganda. He lost to Ryoma, flat-out, and was only saved by the heroic efforts of his army after all. Depicting him as a triumphant victor was inaccurate and insulting to the men and women who lost their lives to retake the city, though he also didn't approve of the barbaric depiction of Hoshido.

However, before the prince could snap, he contemplated his options. Propaganda was propaganda, and he doubted that he could convince Zola about the truth that happened there. And beside… as selfish as it was, he did need perhaps a boost to his pride. Something to actually feel like he hadn't been falling pretty miserably at his actual mission of bringing peace.

"Yeah, I… well, you know, it was the work of countless people! You and me were just part of a larger force." He said, with a smile.

Zola replied as if thunder struck between him and his interlocutor. "Obviously milord, though, they do kind of skipped me over. I made my own correction but… well they couldn't really name the invisible army thing because then well, Dreiz would know and things are invisible because… you… don't wanna have them be visible, y-you know!"

"Haha, don't worry Zola! I'm quite amazed by what you've done!" Said Corrin. "It's too bad that they forgot to put you there, but… well, maybe we could go see father and you can talk about it with him."

"Father? Oh you… King Garon surely has better things to deal with than me. I'm not a very noticeable fellow, as you'll notice!"

He was right, but Corrin briefly considered that in this time of victory, perhaps Garon would be more likely to react positively. Xander told him that the stern king of Nohr often got a bit more daunting and, at times, nicer when he was in the opera, owing to Cyrkensia being the place where his beloved wife grew up. Beside, since Iago took all the credit likely, it'd be a nice way to stick it to him.

"I know my father, and I've done many great things for him, no? Surely he'll look at your case if I bring you up!"

"You're right, you've been certainly of great use to Nohr… Well, milord, if you do that, I would be in your debt forever! This would be a splendid promotion for me surely! Oh and the people who helped too."

"I am already in your debt, Zola. You've saved us at Macarath… but, Zola, would you mind if I asked you a question?"

"Of course, Milord!"

"Say, do you know of… roaming invisible soldiers? I've… heard rumors of soldiers who can fight while invisible."

Zola raised an eyebrow and began to scratch his chin, before simply nodding his head sideways.

"Oh no milord. A powerful mage could hide a few people perhaps, but they'd need to be nearby and the invisibility would drop once the fighting begins! I've heard of invisible soldiers as well but those are mere rumors!"

"I see, well, I-"

Right as Corrin said this, the bartender almost slammed a cup full of a smoking liquid near the prince. A table made out of lesser stuff would've perhaps been torn in two.

"_La salive du diable_, sir." Said the bartender, with an intense look, before taking a few cautious steps back. The entire room fell into silence, and Niles bent over to check the cup's content, quickly pulling away after one look.

"My remaining eyeball would've melted right off…"

"Milord, I don't think that you should be drinking that." Commented Laslow. "It's evil."

"What sinister curse are my eyes beholding?! Mixing the darkness of Nohr with the ardent lava of the Demon Falls together and casting the result in the great cauldron of darkness, where its properties are amplified by one hundred percent to the max, is perhaps the only possible way for one to craft such a deadly liquid! I dread for this world should a drop of it escape confinement!"

"… N-nah it's just distilled a lot." Reassured the Bartender

"oh"

Corrin, aware that all eyes were on him, simply drank it in one go, and to his surprise, it felt… mild, like being a bit slapped on the belly gently perhaps. His throat felt maybe a bit dry but nothing that some milk couldn't deal with. In spite of the underwhelming result though, a warm feeling slowly took over his body, and his body felt comfortable, like something took all the pain he endured over the last months and turned it into pure comfort.

He had no words to describe the feeling any further, so he decided to be appropriate.

"_Hic."_

The terrorized bar owner, now convinced of Nohr's superiority, leapt back into his counter to try and keep sacrificing drinks to the altar. The soldiers cheered, and so did Corrin, briefly forgetting why before remembering it.

"Woohoo! Nice… what are we celebrating!"

"Erm, Lord Corrin, how many fingers am I holding up?" Said Benny, holding up three. In answer, Corrin imitated him, and this seemed enough to convince the giant that the prince was still in a good state.

"Well, to celebrate, let us share stories, my friends!" Said Silas. "Let us share… chick stories!" And most of the men howled in answer. The prince's smile grew wider, because he remembered a particular encounter with a baby chick in his childhood and he always wanted to tell it to someone.

"Alright, let's start with… me." Said Niles. "So, it was two years ago, there was this girl, Katrina the intreprid. Famous thief, you know her? She took from the rich and generously gave it to the poor."

"Awwww!"

"Heartwarming, I know. Certainly a nice thing… anndd, we can't have that in Nohr. So, I was sent to arrest her." Said Niles. "It was quite difficult, I'll tell you. She was _good_. None of the idiots I had to work with could even start figuring her out. I managed to chase her at times, we… had opportunities to get close to another while chasing, we did some banter, the fun stuff, you see. But I tire of that, so I get one step ahead of her and steal her item, with a note so well hidden that only she could find it : My address."

Odin shook his head, but most of the audience was intrigued.

"She comes to me. She had long red hair, a nice face, an even nicer scar on it and an outfit brimming with weapons. So, I'm only a handsome man with some knives and a bow. What do I do? Well, I banter, we talk about society, this kind of things… but you know women, they want something fast. So, we get close to one another and, as we gaze deep into our eyes… or as she gaze deep into mine, we figure out that maybe there's a life for us, free of weapons or rich jerks…"

Niles rose a little, putting his hands over his chest. Then, with speed that almost caused whiplash, he smacked his hands over his head, frightening most of his coworkers and causing quite a few to spill their drinks!

"We stabbed each other almost immediately! But, would you look at that… someone went ahead and brought himself some chainmail in preparation! But even with it, her knife was so deliciously close to tearing though my chest and stabbing into my heart that I tensed up and just killed her on the spot with my own knife! I caught her body, but she was dead on the spot. And the rich jerks got their revenge!"

Silence ensued, and then a lot of the soldiers laughed happily or even clapped, with Zola amongst them. Quite a few were disturbed, most of them being the most prominent masculine members of the army. Arthur, for an instance, seemed ready to tackle Niles here and there. Corrin, not knowing what happened, simply nodded.

A mercenary followed. "Shit, how do I top that?! Well, once, I had a good thing going with this girl, but her father turned out to be General Tello! Man, was he intimidating. We sat down and things went pear-shaped real fast! Dude sent me all the way here just to keep me away from his daughter!"

"Screw him." Said the soldier next to him. "But you don't regret being there, right?"

"Ahaha, not at all! You guys are fun!" He said, tapping his neighbors in the back. Niles made a little "ooohhhh" sound in answer.

"What about you?" He said to his neighbor, and the men subsequently took the occasion to make long or short stories about their misadventures with women. Most were funny, some were dark, one or two were misogynistic. Corrin observed each one, even in his half-drunk stupor. The stories evolved with the degree of alcohol ingested beforehand, making them weirder.

"And zaattsss's how it ended, pretty guuud, nah?"

The men clapped solemnly, and the Nohrian soldier moved his hands like an opera singer. Next was Odin, so Corrin shifted on his seat in amusement, expecting a most glorious performance out of the eccentric wizard!

"My dear friends! My chick story is certainly an amusing one, I was walking down a path where… the path where… archers in the trees! Father, we must leave before- NO! FATHER NO! YOU… NO I CANT LEAVE YOU BEHIND! NOOOOOOOO!" Said Odin, hiding beneath the table in fright. Laslow, after his brief shock, immediately managed to get a hold of him. A few Nohrian soldiers laughed, perhaps thinking that Odin was hamming it up, but Niles managed to get them to shut up with a single nasty glare.

Corrin's expression of anticipation made way for a look of sorrow. He, Silas, Arthur, Benny, Niles and a few others even got up to try to help until Laslow raised his right hand, having wrapped his arm around his friend's shoulders.

"My friends, as you must know, I have a lot of chick stories to share, but… I will need to go talk with Odin. Continue your little talk please. We shall be back shortly! Come on Odin."

Both retainers walked out, and the remaining soldiers were not stuck with an awkward silence.

"I wish my old bastard would be riddled with arrows." Eventually said one soldier, causing most of the room to laugh, and the wheel kept going, getting crazier and crazier.

"I met a blind girl once, it was nice. We didn't go all the way because of my work but I might try my luck once this thing blows over." Said Benny, without further comments.

"I am in love with a most fine woman my friends! And you know her name… justice!" Declared Arthur. "Also the last time I spoke to a girl we both fell into a pit."

"Erm, well, there's a girl that I'm hovering about but she's pretty special. I won't tell the name because I'd rather not get teased for it…" Stumbled Silas, scratching his cheek and trying to contain his blush.

"I'm not really in possession of an attractive physique and I do not use my illusion powers to seduce because that's… a bit creepy. Erm, once, there was a girl who did ask me out! So I was very happy with it! And I reach her home, and hm, she went straight to the point and asked me if I could disguise myself into her brother. That… was awkward."

More howling ensued, and Corrin smiled from his position, slouched forward with his arms as a cushion. He wasn't tired, but he was in deep thoughts with all those stories. He was in such deep thoughts that Niles had to shake him multiple times before he acknowledged him. And even then, he only glanced lazily at the outlaw, hoping that he wouldn't try to goad him into doing something stupid again.

"So, Lord Corrin, what is _your _chick story?"

"I… hm… do I really need to do that?"

"You don't need to." Spoke Silas. But even then, most of the men were looking at him in clear anticipation. While he would've been intimidated by such a sight, Corrin's recent alcoholic consumption made his lips loosen slightly. He didn't get up from his spot, but he tried to speak a bit louder for his soldiers.

"I'm… well it's on-going, there's this girl and… well I don't know, I have that confused crush on her." He rose up from his seat and joined his hands together. "She's amazing, she's strong, she's always calm no matter what, she's honest and she's, well she's my opposite because…" He briefly paused, before tapping at his chest. "You know, I'm me, sort of awkward and always loosing my calm, hehe, I-i don't know if it's love or just admiration and I'm afraid to ask her at that point." Corrin took a thinker stance, putting his fist on his chin and looking thoughtfully at a bar wall. "I don't want to push her away by making her uncomfortable but I'm worried that she might thinks I'm just a bother for her…"

The soldiers blinked and one could see their drunken minds desperately trying to figure out that girl that Corrin was talking about. Zola failed, but Niles was the first to figure it out, his grin slowly widening.

"Prince Corrin, do you like Beruka?"

Corrin could only reply dramatically to that. "… Ye, I guess." He said, before his organism finally allowed him to realize what he just said. Falling back unto his usual mannerisms, the young man rose up from his seat quickly. "W-wait! Who…"

"Oh, there's no shame Lord Corrin." Said Niles. "It's… admittedly odd considering that she's an assassin and you're pretty opposed to killing though."

Corrin's face was beet red, and he contemplated punching himself in the stomach his stupid little decision.

"I… well I… yes, but I hope to understand her. Could you… erm, please not tell her?"

Silas hesitated, himself a bit drunk. "Yah, won't tell a thing because you're my friend, and that's a looooowww move… I would never do this to my bestest buddy…"

"Well, you'll need to do something to get her to swoon." Said Niles. "What's your plan?"

"W-well, I mean, I don't know if I really want to talk about it. It's, erm, pretty personal after all…"

"Oh, don't you worry milord! You're amongst a lot of strangers very recently turned friends! You're free to tell us your plan."

"Well, I'd need to find a shop first, and huh…"

"Ahah! My friend, you should boldly do that right now! While there is a certain thrill to virile parties like ours, it is important for love to be cultivated! Go forth and find that shop, young Corrin!" Said Arthur. And the rest of the men, bar some like Zola, pounded in the table in sync, encouraging the prince. Feeling both oddly motivated and embarrassed, the young man got up, did a curtsy and fled out of the bar, as if a vengeful Takumi materialized somewhere in the establishment to chase him. The remaining soldiers chuckled, happy at having somewhat contributed to the prince's love life, but then the grinning outlaw's face turned neutral, and he looked up at the ceiling, in contemplation.

"Say, who's going to pay now?"

Meanwhile, Corrin stood out in the streets once more, admiring the city lights briefly and taking the time to admire them before he could begin to contemplate his new journey.

He truly loved them.

…

She truly hated them.

The city lights and the sounds of it were loud and blaring, and about as agreeable as having various objects thrown at her face outright. And the bar proved to be no shelter for Beruka : Having decided to settle next to the bar taken by the masculine half of the army, the women were determined to outdo them, having swarmed the place in a manner that Beruka, as someone who enjoyed order, outright loathed.

All around her, girls were drinking, or eating, or conversing together loudly or, to the delight of a single male patron, fighting.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" Sang a group of women spectating upon Effie and another female knight. After some struggle, Effie smirked and slammed her rival's hand upon the wood, causing the spectators to cheer in joy. The loser sighed and got up to sneakily add herself again to the queue that was forming at the table where Elise's retainer sat.

"I'll give you ten seconds to enjoy your streak of victories while you can!" Boasted a muscular female knight as she almost slammed herself into the chair. "You'll be grieving it in less than that once we begins!"

"You're just begins to become another tally! Come! Let us see which one of us will be crying soon!"

"Yay! You tell them Effie! Woohoo!" Cheered Elise. It was decided that the princess was too young to be allowed to participate in the "experience". Beruka would've protested, since the young woman had been witnessing war and death for months by now, but at the very least she agreed that she probably shouldn't get drunk, lest they all suffer a sudden execution on the spot by Camilla or Garon himself. To help, she didn't have much stakes in what the princess could or couldn't do when she wasn't off trying to lessen the death tolls on Nohr's side.

Elise was sitting at a round table close to the entrance with a most prestigious cast : Charlotte, Selena, Azura (whom Effie granted the role of Elise's temporary caretaker while she was off arm-wrestling an entire regiment) and Beruka herself. Elise was quietly sipping some milk with a straw, her wooden mug looking simplistic next to the sublime glass that Charlotte commanded for herself. Selena, who also decided to get herself some modern art instead of a statue, was inspecting it, using whatever little space she had on the table to lean forward and inspect it.

"Whoah, Charlotte, there's a bit of drink in your ice cubes!"

Charlotte's answer was formal, and accompanied by an angry headshake. "Aw stop criticizing me, Selena! A proper lady gets some herself some proper glassware! Hey, the blue-hairs, don't you agree?"

Azura lowered her plain glass of water. "No." She said, almost in sync with Beruka. The two women glanced at each other but Elise caught Azura's attention soon enough. Beruka, however, found herself a less pleasant interlocutor.

"Ya know, Beruka, I just can't figure you out." Slurred Charlotte, not bothering to keep her façade. "You're just so grim! Liven up a little! Get loose and tackle someone on the floor to beat them up! Or!" She said, realizing that Beruka could decide to apply that advice on her. "Just hug them?"

"Hug?"

"Oh my word!" Exclaimed Charlotte, jerking her thumb backward. Beruka glanced at two soldiers in the distance. For whatever reason, one of them was sobbing into the other's chest. The other woman, to Beruka's confusion, held her distressed compatriot gently, slowly caressing her hair with one hand and wrapping her other arm around her back. She swayed back and forth, and Beruka's skills at lip-reading indicated that the cavalier was whispering reassuring arguments to the other.

"… Hm, I see an occasion to complete an assignment."

The blonde woman frowned, drank the little alcohol present in her glass and settled it aside before moving her chair closer to the table. Once done, she put her elbows on the table, joined her hands in a steepled manner and then lowered her head a little to glance at Beruka right in the eyes. Blue eyes crossed with purple ones, and the two warriors held their gazes for a while before Charlotte spoke up.

"You're odd. You know? Even weirder than then the queen bees of murderers over here. Because Peri, I can figure her out. Effie, I can figure her out. Nyx?" She said, and Beruka glanced at the wizard, who was currently arguing with the bartender over her actual age compared to the current one. "Yeah, can figure her out too. But _you? _Ohhhh now that's a whole different beast! You always look super calm no matter what. At Cheve, I don't think you ever blinked once!"

"I do blink. It is necessary for the eyes." Retorted Beruka.

"Not the point! It's just like… You don't really emote."

Beruka considered Charlotte's words. Until then, she scoffed at such words, but recently, she had been struggling with them, especially when Corrin was involved. She felt what she guessed was sorrow when Sirius was shot dead, what she guessed was worry whenever Corrin got himself taken out of the pictures and more, that she couldn't properly identify.

Well, she knew what the emotions _were_. She could recognize joy, or anger for instance, but until then, she felt like they were crutches to be discarded rather than anything necessary, so while she studied them (to better understand how targets could react if they ever felt victim to one of them in particular), she carefully worked on suppressing them in some corner of her mind. It was like being very knowledgeable on music but not actually practicing it, perhaps.

But to continue the metaphor, she was now in a position where she had been forced to play, and _listening _was obviously different from _playing_.

However, she was a little glad that she was still seen as an automaton by her fellow warriors. It made it easier to maintain her façade.

"An accurate assessment." Retorted Beruka. "Whereas you emote too much."

"Yeah, I guess, but… like, how did ya do it? How did you just-" She raised one hand and tapped three fingers against her head. "-decide to stop emoting?"

"It is the result of years of training. And I did not decide to simply stop using them." She said. "Just like how you didn't simply decide to vulgarly throw yourself against rich men."

Charlotte clenched her fist a little, and Selena decided to interject, stepping out of her role as a spectator. "Whoah whoah there, ladies! Calm down! We've got young ears listening in!" Interrupted Camilla's retainer. "And beside, come on, we're in this mess together girls! Let's keep the barbs for our enemies!"

"Whatever, I'm not talking to her anymore." Said Charlotte, stepping out of her seat and joining the queue leading to Effie. Beruka could see that Effie was still undefeated so far, accepting new challengers with the same eagerness and refusing to back down in spite of the continuous strain on her arm. For the briefest second, she was curious about matching her strength with the retainer, but decided not to. Everyone would see it, and should she lose to Effie (which was a possible scenario), then part of her reputation would crumble.

And no one wants to hire a weak assassin.

Selena's high-pitched voice interrupted her thoughts. "Geez, Charlotte was kinda aggressive here!"

"I could've handled her."

"Aww, not even a thank you?" Selena put her hand on her shoulder. "Or an acknowledgement of that Camilla imitation I pulled off?"

"Lady Camilla." Corrected Beruka. And then, she remembered the whole "battle buddy" system. Might as well familiarize with Selena to prevent her from complaining again. "… But thank you. A bar fight is well below my standards."

"Heh, just don't get yourself into troubles again!" Said Selena, placing herself next to her fellow retainer. "Though I guess there's not many things that can get you into troubles to start with!"

Beruka silently drank water in answer.

"Anyway! Ya know, Cyrkensia is my city of origin! If we stay here for longer than tonight, maybe we could try and explore it a little, huh?

Beruka lowered her glasses and gave Selena a side-eye. "Cyrkensia is your city of origin? You never mentioned it." And quickly, an idea flared. "I assume that you are familiar with Place Montrain?"

It took Selena two awkward seconds before she replied with a "yes!"

"Good. But while reaching it, I shall not wait for you to explore the famous shops."

"Y-yeah, those shops. I guess the… armor in there is kinda distracting!"

Cyrkensia's shops were famous for their clothing stores, or even their musical instruments. Beruka managed to hide her frown.

"But it's been a while since I've visited it! So if I make inaccuracies, it's because of that. It's ever-changing! It's a city where stillness is the enemy instead of Hoshido! All of… you know, all of that."

"Yes, all of that."

"Speaking of the city!" Said Selena. "You and I, we're kind like Nestra and Nohr! You've got me, who's very, you know, _bright_! And you, who's a bit… dour but very strong though!"

"An odd comparison. If we were to truly anthropomorphize those countries, our relations, demeanor and abilities would change." Commented Beruka.

"What's anthropomorphize?" Asked Elise, and Azura gave out the answer before Selena or Beruka could do so (though the latter didn't quite intend to do so). "Giving humans traits or emotions to inhuman entities, such as the sky, nations or creatures. In this case, Nohr and Nestra."

"On point, Azura! So, anyway, talks about us embodying countries aside, what'd you think of a visit around the city?"

"Hm… I believe that you are overstepping your bounds a little, Selena."

"Ohh, what if we do it with Corrin then?" And, at this point, Beruka considered grunting in annoyance. She restrained herself enough, however, to simply shift back on her seat and massage her forehead with her fingers. "It could be fun though, he could use some fun after what happened recently! Poor guy…"

"I do believe that our colleagues are working on that." Said Azura. Selena, seeing an opportunity to get the mysterious danceress into the conversation, used that as a jumping point.

"I wanna ask something Azura if you don't mind."

"Please, do so… as long as it isn't personal." And to that, Selena raised two fingers in premises before making her move.

"Are ya Lord Corrin's sibling? You've got the blue hair… and you're always around him too! I even thought that you'd just join the boys here, haha!"

A small smile crept on Azura's face, but Beruka recognized it as a fake smile to placate people. She used that strategy when she had to : Once done enough, it was easy to make it as natural as a regular smile. Selena seemed to fall for it, but this only made Beruka even more suspicious. Few could so convincingly make a smirk like that. Just what could she be hiding? Hoshido, where she grew up, shunned overly dissimulating one's feelings after all. Hoshidans were honest about their emotions, and if they weren't, then it was a source of shame.

It looked like they were two of the same breed. Though one chose to hide her steel beneath silk and a heavenly voice.

"Haha." She chuckled, causing a few soldiers to look at her in surprise at the sudden harmonious sound. "No, Selena. I am King Garon's daughter, making me Elise's half sibling…"

"Yay!"

"As well as Camilla's, Leo's and Xander's! As a result, I have no blood ties with Corrin."

"I see… well, it's just that, you know, you're always near him. More than his actual maid at times!"

"I care about him. He's fragile, and was sent into this massive war… It would be improper to just wander off when he could seek a shoulder to lean on at anytime…"

"He might not need to rely on that shoulder all the times." Interjected Beruka. "Lord Corrin is strong, and is old enough to make his own destiny."

They both stared at one another again. And while Azura didn't react like Charlotte, Beruka knew that she was probably as shocked as the blonde. The princess's reaction, tilting her head to the side and closing her eyes, only further confirmed this in her eyes. She was actively trying to hide her actual reaction.

"He might be strong, but strength alone cannot carry on through life. You need friends or allies to help you."

"I didn't need those." She said, and Selena threw a doubtful look at her.

"And I can see that. But, Beruka, you and Corrin are two different people. What worked for you cannot work for him." She explained. "It is true that he cannot always rely on us, but it needs to be a deliberate process instead of a quick one…"

"But in a war, we cannot afford for it to be long. Corrin has found himself fighting alone twice by now." She said. "He shall not fight alone, but should something cut him off from the others, he must be able to adapt and hold his own."

"You're right." She said. "But the war will not be a short one. Corrin will have the time to grow. Please, don't be harsh on him."

"Oh, by the way, where did you meet him?"

Azura smiled at Elise, and Beruka turned towards the wall, causing Selena to shift her seat.

"Say, Beruka… where were you born?"

"Why does that concern you?"

"Welp, I mean… I kinda told you where I'm from, and ya know, battle buddies need to know where their pals come from and all!"

"… Then you shall tell me more about yourself afterwards."

"Sure thing!" Said Selena, attempting to rub elbow with Beruka. The redhead promptly relented when she noticed the sharp blades on her elbows. "Geez, you could impale someone on those things!"

"Yes." Replied Beruka. "I was born in Windmire. I was…"

She sees _his _face, the upper part covered in shadows to show only a wicked smile. She remembers the first kills. The subsequent warmth that she could feel after she completed his assignments, showcasing ruthlessness unexpected of an abandoned little girl. The appreciation that she felt whenever _he_ allowed himself to compliment her for a contract well done…

The way _he _reacted after she stood over _him_ with a knife in hand.

The bar was long gone. All she could see, now, was a clean white room, with food and a lit fireplace, and, her eyes glazed over, Beruka spoke only once "Killing means warmth."

"Huh?!"

The sound of Selena's surprised reaction pulled Beruka out of the white room and back into the bar. "Hey, Beruka, are you alright? You kind of went all ri… zombie on me for a second."

"I was taught assassination techniques. I then failed to complete my assignment on Camilla and was recruited by her. You knew that already."

"Yeah but… you miss a lot of details, ya know? I really want to know what happened to you." Said Selena. "Not because I want to know..." And, at that, Selena eventually shrugged. "Well a bit actually, but something must've happened to you for you to be like this, right?"

Beruka frowned. "Obviously." She retorted. "But I do not require nor I want your pity. I am an assassin, and this is the path that I've taken."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Explained Selena, sighing a little. "Alright, as for me, I was born here. I left to Nohr to find some work because I didn't want to just be some boring guard. So I reached Windmire, and got the attention of Lady Camilla and… et voilà!"

Beruka blinked.

"Why would you leave Cyrkensia?"

"Huh?"

"Nohr is… barren." Says Beruka. "Everyone knows that. Why would you give up a confortable life in Cyrkensia and go here? Most of the people here were born into the country to begin with but you deliberately chose to enter it and submit yourself to a life without much luxuries."

"Heh… yep." Said Selena.

Beruka began to stroke her chin with her gauntlet, leaning to the left to avoid poking the blonde princess in the eye with her shoulder blades. "Why?"

"Well, because… I don't know, I could help more folks? Nohr's kind of backed into a corner. I could just stay at home and do nothing or go here and contribute to something, ya know?"

"Hrm… any impact you might have will be small." Contemplated Beruka. "There must be another reason. Helping people without expecting a reward of a sort is odd."

Selena winked slightly. "Well, it's not really altruistic if you expect a reward, am I right? I won't be taking Castle Shirasagi by myself and I sure won't solve the blight by myself, but as long as I can somewhat contribute, I'm fine with that!" And, with that, she spread her arms above her head. "It doesn't look like it, but I've still seen quite a lot of bad stuff in my day, so now, whenever I see someone in trouble, I just can't ignore it, I guess."

Beruka scoffed at the idea that Selena had experienced any manner of difficulty in her life. But moreso than that, she was simply unused to the idea that someone would selflessly leave Nestra, a country that wasn't affected by the blight, and join Nohr simply because they wanted to help people. The swordswoman perhaps wanted to placate her ally's worries, but the assassin hoped she could somehow get her to reveal the true reason of her visit behind Nohr.

Behind Selena, Effie triumphed again, and more cheering ensued. And, at this very moment, Beruka put a hand on her head. The sounds and lights felt more and more like slaps to the face. Wherever her eyes looked, they were greeted with flashing lights and boorish celebrations. This was perhaps too much for her : Not because she was being actually overwhelmed, but because the assassin simply realized that parties such as this were beyond her patience.

She rose from her chair and began to head out.

"I will… locate my surroundings. I shall come back before the departure for the Opera, worry not."

"Huh, are you sure Beruka? You look a little unwell."

Beruka left before she could be interrupted, but threw in a quick "I am fine."

Opening the doors didn't give her the fresh air that she needed though, as attested by her continued discomfort. The streets were still dancing, still exhibiting their joy towards Nohr, and this only made Beruka more and more annoyed. She never really had any troubles with crowds before, but that was because she calculated her time, and knew that she only dwelt in those before it would allow her to blend in and carry a contract. But right now, her purpose in the city was aimless : She was just here to better witness the celebration of the Nohrian army, something that she didn't care for. If they were truly winning, then it would be better to keep the advantage going. What manner of fighter stops a sword swing mid strike, for instance? Perhaps there was a greater purpose behind this.

Turning to the right, with the intention of heading into a nearby alley, Beruka stopped when she saw a figure in the crowd. The azure-colored hair and long ears already made him stand out, but his grim black armor, in a neat contrast with the bright clothes of the crowd. Red eyes looked into purple one, and Beruka slowly realized that fate has decreed, once more, that the two of them should be put together.

"… Oh, erm, hey Beruka." Said Corrin, having seemingly taken a break to watch the city lights. "Are you alright?"

Beruka folded her arms and stood upright, refusing to show weakness in front of Corrin by allowing him to see her being destabilized.

"How odd." She commented. "Why are you out of your bar, though?"

"Erm, I had to do an errand, huh… search for a shop." He explained, awkwardly scratching a side of his head. "They didn't force me though, I just up and left after conversing."

Beruka leaned back forward, throwing Corrin an almost suspicious look. "Is this in the interest of my surprise?"

"Well, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if I were to say it, right?"

The assassin didn't outwardly react, but she allowed a slight corner of her lips to move upward by a distance of a few centimeters. He seemed to notice it, going by his pleased smile and, perhaps just for him, she allowed herself to falter a little. "Correct." She replied. "I'm surprised that you're taking so well to this town, it is…"

They both looked at the street before staring at one another.

"It's just…" They began in sync. "So bright/blinding, cheery/obnoxious, full of life/crowded, musical/loud…" And, before they could continue, they both placed their description of the city at a premature end, surprised by the contrast.

"Heh… you don't like crowds, huh?"

"Correct." She affirmed, briefly looking over at him. "I'm surprised you don't either."

"I like it but I guess we could find ourselves a less busy street." He said. "I guess you won't mind if I spill the surprise earlier than I thought."

"When did you intend to do so?" She said, as they began to walk together. The crowd made way for the prince, perhaps recognizing him over his wartime "exploits". The assassin, unwilling to fight against the "stream" of the crowd, began walking closer to him, about just right behind him.

Corrin laughed a little, but some hesitation slipped into his voice. "After the opera, but since we could be sent to take Hoshido at… any moment, maybe we ought to check now." The prince turned his head to look back at Beruka. "Got to be cautious!"

"Yes…" And, smelling an occasion, she pointed at him. "Now, apply that statement promptly by looking at where you're going."

The prince agreed with that statement, and turned around just at the right time to stop in his path. Had he been a second slower, he would've outright slammed against a large tall man clad in most suspicious clothes.

The individual was covered, head to toe, in a black fabric with some armor on his shoulders, arms, legs and part of his torso. The cloth and the armor had the same red lines running over his body joining together, animated by magic to "flow" in a way that could be hypnotic for a weak mind. Black gloves, black boots and a black mask completed the ensemble : Like the rest of the armor, the mask had some red lines, though instead of waving slightly, they formed the mark of Nohr. Cloth covered the rest of his head. For all intents and purpose, not a single piece of skin was visible.

When the man spoke though, he did so with ease, as if he wasn't wearing a mask. Perhaps those three holes at the bottom of the mask were used to breath?

Beruka frowned. She recognized Garon's elite guards. Everywhere in Nohr, people, be they common bandits, citizens or soldiers, talked about the "King's shadows". For one to show up in a place like this was most unusual.

"… Milord Corrin, the Royal Family seeks to see you." He (or it) said, ignoring the gasps in the crowd. "King Garon desires to congratulate you and has expressed that he wish to do so promptly."

"A-… alright! If you don't mind, erm, could I perhaps bring someone else to see him? I know that it may be asking much, but…"

"You may do so." Said the King's Shadow. "King Garon's daughter also wishes to consult her retainer, Beruka, immediately."

Corrin's eyes widened in surprise but he tried his very best to look serious in the face of the figure. "Oh, erm, I'm… just going to fetch Zola. Huh… I'm going to come back soon!" He said, before making his way towards the bar, hurriedly offering his excuses as he pushed his way past the crowd.

This left Beruka and the King's Shadow alone, in utter silence.

"… May I know why Lady Camilla would fetch me in that manner?"

"Such matters shall only be heard by Nohrian ears." It answered, and Beruka frowned. There were a lot of powerful Nohrians in town.

That night was perhaps going to be more interesting than they both thought.

…

**N/A : **Whoah, spooky! I guess that the King's Shadows are OC?

This chapter is light on story content but next one should pick up the slack! It's mostly meant to kind of have Corrin and Beruka kind of try to bond with their colleagues, with a certain amount of success for both!

I plan for Nestra to be somewhat decently long. I think it'll be an important turning point for both characters. Once we're done with it, it'll be time for Conquest!

Haha, you're right that Beruka is probably slightly envious of Azura, but I don't want for these two to have animosity simply because of Corrin. There will be reasons for Beruka to distrust Azura that will be "legit".

What did you think of the chapter? Reviews help!

See ya late!


	14. Incoming Shadows

Nestra's opera was a sublime piece of work. It already used to be present before the Qliphoth invasion, but it had been redone to be far bigger, as Nohrian architecture often decreed that buildings should be about the size of a city block or two. It had been spared from the usual Nohr aesthetics though, being essentially a bigger version of the building that once stood in place.

The building was known for the artificial lake inside of it, created via the use of magic. People who wished to see their performances up close could climb on a small rowing boat and move around to get a closer look. Of course, sometimes, the boats ended up clashing into one another as a result, since a lot of clients found themselves wishing to see things truly up close and fought valiantly to get closer to the scene. Quite a few detractors of the opera's pieces argued that the disputes between those people were more entertaining than whatever the actors could actually pull off.

Beruka cared little for either of them. An assassin's life only rarely mingled with art (unless one is foolish enough to treat their grim work as if it were art), and while she had to sneak in operas to carry out her missions before, the songs and dances of the performers on stage were merely noises to her. This is why she was pretty annoyed at the idea of having to actually watch the pieces, though perhaps she could get Camilla to grant her a pardon out of the performance.

Then, she remembered that she didn't have much to do anyway, and simply continued to follow Corrin and Zola, sometimes looking up to contemplate the golden halls of the opera. They walked across a set of more moderate "secret stairs" meant to carry Corrin and the two others towards Garon without running into one of the celebrities in the halls below. Mayors, generals, advisors and other powerful figures of Nohr or the countries south of it were all gathered together.

Using a small window (perhaps made to check on the situation below should an invasion of some sort occurs), Beruka could see that quite a lot of Nohr's political power was gathered here. And immediately, she couldn't help but analyze how clustered these high-ranking Nohrians were, the location of the guards, how aware they were… if Hoshido were to mount a sneak attack or organize a surprise attack, then they may perhaps be able to kill off or wound quite a lot of leading figures, which could perhaps cause the western side of Dreiz to tear itself apart because of the power struggle.

In spite of Nohr's status as a military super-power, its fragile agriculture meant that it relied on trades with Bordal, Mokushu, Izumo and the smaller countries south to live on. And while it could perhaps attempts to force said smaller countries to submit using its army, the problem was that the dusk country's army wasn't especially colossal, meaning that while it could perhaps overpower them, then it would be at risk of getting invaded by Hoshido while its attention was diverted elsewhere.

Burning half of Cheve was already bold on that regard, and focusing a lot of Nohr's most talented soldiers in Nestra even moreso. Hoshido's attack on Nohr already proved that it could overwhelm its rival country using sheer numbers, and if it weren't for Corrin's sudden transformation causing damage and confusion amongst Hoshidans, then Macarath would've perhaps drowned in blood, with citizens dying in the middle of a storm of blades and spells.

"Are you alright, Beruka?"

Beruka snapped back to attention, seeing that Corrin and Zola had managed to distance her a little. The smaller man seemed bothered, having seemingly been cut off mid conversation. The azure-haired killer quickly caught up to the black-armored dragon prince and the illusion jester dwarf (who should perhaps attempts to find himself a better theme).

"Apologies, I was looking at the room."

"Huh… the rooms in there are nice, huh? I don't see myself ever getting into that crowd though. How do they even breathe in there? At least in the city streets you're outside."

The assassin considered telling the prince of her suspicions that she recently gathered, but then she remembered that he'd probably attempt to run off to warn the politicians or would bring it up loudly to his siblings. If she could take him aside in time… Hm, no. Perhaps she was too paranoid. Perhaps she saw hidden daggers when there were none, threats when there was wind… Better merely communicate her worries with Camilla, or simply discard them and wait for history to unfold.

"… Yes, they are nice." She said, before refusing to comment any further. Zola and Corrin decided to resume their conversation, though the latter looked at her every so often, as if inviting her to talk.

"So you went to Bordal? How was it?"

"Yes milord! Shortly after your success at Macarath, we ended up assigned to escorting King Garon in person! Bordal was a pretty nice town, I'll admit. The citizens don't mind Nohr. There was no need to teach them a lesson like with Cheve!"

Beruka got closer to Corrin, perhaps anticipating him to faint. He did react with shock though, but the assassin thankfully placed her finger right in front of her lips as she ascended to stand close to him. He looked at her in fright, realized what she meant and smiled a little, though he still looked suitably shocked when he managed to turn around to stare at a puzzled Zola.

"Have I said something that offends you, Milord?"

"N-no… Well, Cheve is just a rather sore point for me." Said Corrin, almost biting his lips. "The slaughter there was quite unneeded, we had the situation under control and…"

Zola's beady eyes furrowed in confusion and the illusionist took a few seconds before speaking up."But… Milord, I thought that you were the one who did it?"

The prince almost fell out of the stairs. And probably would have if Beruka didn't decide to support him by the back.

"I… I beg your pardon?!" He said, speaking with enough authority to briefly surprise Beruka. And Zola himself drew back as if struck by thunder, raising his hands pleadingly. This seemed to pacify Corrin, and the prince quickly drew back, switching to his usual meek approach.

"I'm sorry Zola, I'm just dealing with a lot so… would you mind telling me why I'm considered to be behind the tragic events of Cheve though?"

"Well, it's… rumors so far, but some people said that you were the one to do it. W-which I've always found ridiculous of course!"

Corrin grimaced. "I would never do something so vile… I must consult father immediately about this!" He said, and Beruka's worst fears confirmed themselves when the young man ran off to the next level, with the firm intention of apparently getting some answers out of his father. The assassin gave chase immediately, and she could hear Zola doing the exact same thing, though he wasn't as swift as the prince or his battle buddy. In fact, if it weren't for a surprising sight at the top of the stairs, then both Nohrians would've already been at the end of the hall by the time he emerged out of the door himself.

Luckily for the dwarf, Corrin had stopped, aghast by the sight in front of him. And Beruka understood once she, too, reached it.

In front of Corrin stood Leo, Nohr's dark knight and third youngest prince, and owner of the dreaded Brynhildr. The young blond man, though, had opted to get out of his armor to wear something somewhat more fashionable, to her confusion. Gone was the intimidating armor : In its place stood a buttoned blue shirt, black pants, black boots and a long cape that doubled as a scarf of a sort, with one or two jewelries on it, tied together by a small golden chain (that could seemingly be separated in two easily, perhaps to avoid using it as an impromptu strangulation tool). His usual high collar was gone today, which is something that the two Nohrians failed to grasp.

Camilla was also out of her armor, and was wearing an opulent purple dress. The beginning of her arm from the shoulder were bare, but her forearms had two small purple sleeves unconnected to the rest of the dress. Her clothing had quite the cleavage to it (and Beruka, for a reason that she struggled to grasp, felt relief when Corrin's eyes stuck to Camilla's instead of her chest) but it was lengthy, stopping at about her ankle to better showcase red heels. Those heels only made her tallness more prominent : Leo, himself quite tall, stood at chest level. Unlike her brother, she had no weapons on herself. Beruka knew from experience that she probably had something hidden or, more likely, had her incredible strength to fall back on should a fool attempt to disrupt the party.

Zola let out a quick whistle before slamming his hands unto his mouth, at such speed that going any harder would've led to the destruction of quite a few teeth.

"Camilla, Leo!" Said Corrin, quite obviously happy with their presence tonight. "What a surprise! I wasn't told that you were here!"

The prince smiled at his younger brother, though he attempted to make it more dignified than Corrin's all-out smile. "I'm glad to see you as well, Corrin!" He said. "I hope you didn't get yourself into too much troubles while I was gone!"

"… A little." He confessed cheekily. "But you know that I have the devil's own luck."

Corrin's determination was still there, but the presence of his brother had seemed to calm him. Even then, he scratched the back of his head a bit too quickly perhaps, or moved like some manner of spell would kill him if he dared to stay in the same spot for ten seconds.

"Come on Corrin dearie, you're acting as if some ninja is about to jump on you! Relax my dear! Take something without alcohol! (_I've ordered a lot of raspberry juice just for you_)" She whispered. "Put on a good suit! Dance, maybe! I've always wanted to see how well you'd fare at dancing! You are so acrobatic after all!"

"Y-yeah… I need to see Father first, so…"

"Hm, yes. He's invited you. Don't worry though, he's in a good mood and is very happy with your performance."

Leo's eyes hovered towards Zola and Beruka, and the affection in his way made way for the usual steel. Beruka always thought that Niles was exaggerating when he described that the prince's glare was a weapon in its own right, but she could see that the outlaw's ramblings lined up with the flashy dark mage (though Leo's gaze didn't turn her bones to glasses and her eyes to water, perhaps a sign that he did exaggerate a little). While she would've been quite happy to maintain that gaze, she knew better than to be rude to a royal, and wisely looked down. Zola was much quicker to do it.

"L-l-lord Corrin has invited me to see… King Garon…"

"Lady Camilla has requested my presence. But I wish to…"

Camilla pounced on her retainer with the ferocity of a lion bouncing on its prey. She put her cheek on Beruka's, then briefly spun the assassin, making her rotate to the right, and then pushed her into a nearby room with one hand, to the amazement of the three men and some nearby guards. "Ooohh, Beruka! Always on point! There's much I want to tell you! Sorry boys, I'm temporarily leaving you behind! See you!"

The assassin recovered in time, but Camilla entered the room and closed it just in time, though she could see Corrin attempt to reach it before the princess made that null. Once that was done, the purpled-haired warrior sighed and shook her head.

"Sorry for this impromptu bit, Beruka, but I really needed you behind those closed doors." She said. Selena would've perhaps fought to get out, but the assassin knew better than anyone of Camilla's power. If the royal wanted to talk with her, then whatever amount of force her body could amass would never be able to get her past her Lord. She just had to sit down and accept that, for now, she was stuck.

The emotionless warrior turned around and contemplated the room. It was small by Camilla's standards, but still large. She hadn't taken the time to customize it, meaning that it was a nice yet somewhat generic room. The most distinctive element was perhaps the bloody Hoshidan and Chevois helmets neatly put on the fireplace, below a portrait of King Garon as a youthful commander. Daring to look up, Beruka could see that he had Xander's golden locks and muscular build, but while the crown prince of Nohr had sharp facial features and a serious demeanor, Garon as a young adult had a more relaxed facial expression, comparable to his older daughter's.

His eyes were half-closed yet cunning. His smile was pleasant and skillfully concealed a darker nature. He was easy to dismiss as a mere ditzy prince born into the wrong era, but the man was actually about two years away from destroying an entire culture and its people, though no one on the continent (except the eternal weaklings of Izumo) would see the people of Qliphoth as worth shedding a few tears for.

Finally, Beruka sat down, and so did Camilla's. After a few seconds, the princess put on her serious face, the one that she wore only when things where particularly dire. And by "dire", she meant that in nearly a decade of service, she only made that face about once or twice.

"I… received words from Father, about you." She said. "Well, your performance in battle has been noticed."

"How so?"

"You took the lead in Macarath, haven't you? And you managed to drag Corrin out of the battlefield before things went too dire. Selena told me about it. On top of that, at Cheve… do you remember those two Hoshidans you killed?"

Their faces came up quickly enough. "Yes."

"Reports indicate that they were Mikoto's own retainers, and were elite warriors of Hoshido, nearly on the level of some of the royals. Your performance was noted once again, and caught the eye of Iago and… Father himself."

Beruka didn't emote.

"They think that you ought to perhaps become greater than a retainer, Beruka. They… they think that you should rejoin the King's Shadow."

…

"Camilla sure has a way to treat her retainer." Sighed Leo. "Anyway, Corrin, you should go see Da-Father." And his eyes quickly darted towards Zola. "You may visit him next."

"A-alright my lord!" Said the small man, darting for a bench and sitting down on it. Corrin nodded to Leo, and walked past him, towards the massive black doors at the end of the halls. While he would've probably needed the help of some of the guards to open the door, the prince used his draconic strength to open them up, before closing them behind him, only very briefly allowing himself to falter while he was turned away from his father. All of his courage briefly vanished before he thought back of the sheer terror of the Chevois, causing it to reignite further. Boldly, he turned around…

And briefly froze.

King Garon's room was similar to his throne room in Krakenburg. Everything inside of it brimmed with power and ambition. Multiple weapons were scattered over the walls, all of them being rather clean. Portraits depicting Garon at various points in his life could be seen over the wall. And while Corrin dared not to waste his time in looking around, he could see Garon was still a happy-looking man a good way into his adulthood. He could also see that few of the numerous women on his life were on the portraits, beside Queen Katerina and Queen Arete. The sight of the latter did give him pause : She reminded him of Azura, though she looked more shrewd and had much shorter hair.

Otherwise, only Garon's children appeared in the portraits. And Corrin was saddened when he noticed that the portraits never quite featured the same kids. One child would appear one time before vanishing for the next one. The only survivors were Leo, Camilla and Xander, with Elise only popping up in the last one.

Corrin's eyes turned away from the painting and unto the glass window at the end of the room, where Garon stood. And, once more, he felt his courage leave his body as the King's massive figure slowly turned around, and the young man realized just how foolish his idea had been. He wished to move forward, but he felt like two great stones pillars were tied to his legs by chains, and the weight of the world was pressing down on his shoulders, to such point that he was surprised he didn't accidentally burst through the floor by accident.

When Garon finally turned around, it was like light bent itself around him, as if it was refusing to touch him. Nohr's stern king didn't bother to bring a nice suit with him, preferring the suit of armor that he always had on. His red eyes observed Corrin and he… smiled, without a hint of malice, like the satisfied father that he was. And, immediately, he approached Corrin to put his massive hand on his shoulder.

The pressure disappeared as it went, his stress evaporating all of a sudden. He didn't know if Garon's demeanor was the reason.

"My prodigal son returns!" Said the King. "I have heard much about your exploits, Corrin. I am proud of you, my son."

Corrin struggled to form an answer. "I… am glad to be of service to you, father."

Garon laughed. "No need to be so formal, boy! I am most satisfied by what you've done. Come! Let us sit."

The two royals walked towards a massive couch, and Corrin sat in the comfy chair in front of it while Garon chose the couch itself. A wooden table separated them, with a few drinks on it. The king served himself, and wordlessly offered a drink to his son, who simply shook his head. He wasn't so sure that he should get drunk in front of his water. Not that he really _could,_ but he didn't plan on drinking alcohol again.

Garon broke the silence. "I can see that war has already changed you, my son." He said, after taking a sip of his drink.

"Y-yeah… I've been at some of the toughest battles on the continent, I think." Said Corrin. "It… kind of amazes me that I've been at some of these, considering how hectic they were. And I've had to fight my." He quickly shook his head. "I've had to fight members of Hoshido's royal family."

"Yes, Fate has decreed that you should encounter your former brothers and sisters in battle. You've apparently managed to fight the crown prince himself."

Corrin grimaced. "Fight is a big word…"

"Yes, Camilla told me. But still, you've managed to wound him. Your power is rising quickly, Corrin, and I except it to surpass Xander's before the end of the conflict."

The prince knew that he was still far below Xander's level, or even Camilla's. He knew that his brother had been holding back on him, and even with that hidden power that he tapped into, he still lost. And he didn't really consider his second round against Takumi a victory either. While he did manage to pummel him, he could bet that the prince had managed to find himself a healer to fix the damage and was probably on his way back to Hoshido by now.

After the Chevois slaughter, troops were sent into the wood to try and catch the elusive prince and finish him off or capture him, but Takumi had gone missing. It had been theorized that his retainers, unseen during the fight, and some Hoshidans found him in time and healed him before retreating to take back the boats used to arrive to Cheve in the first place. Some discarded materials near a creek revealed that the boats were being repaired while Takumi was assisting Cheve. Hoshido's culture of never abandoning a work before its completion and magic perhaps allowed them to repair the boat in time to escape.

Hoshidan ships were swift, and the diviner's magic once more made it easy for them to quickly leave.

"I shall do my best to live up to your expectations, father… but speaking of Xander, will he be joining us tonight?"

"No. He had to deal with the Hoshidan onslaught up north. He shall be joining us tomorrow though, which I regret..." And Garon got up to observe the view from his window : The opera's stage."

"Father, if I may ask, what do you plan to do, tomorrow?"

"Well, firstly." He began. "We will watch some operas. You've all been under some tremendous pressure, and it would be good for you to relax by watching some of the finest art in Dreiz, wouldn't you agree?"

Corrin nodded. He'd been looking forward to relaxing, and while he never really had a taste for the arts, well, perhaps tonight was as good as any.

"Secondly though, I plan to announce that Nohr will begin a massive counter-attack." He announced, and that got Corrin's attention. "Our army will be walking into Hoshido soon, and I plan on using Nestra to launch an attack through boats. This will allow us to get around the Bottomless Canyon. I will tell the full details later, but we'll land south of Eastern Dreiz and we'll make our way towards the capital."

Corrin drew back slightly in shock. "We'll invade?"

Garon smiled slightly and tilted his head, acting as if Corrin just said that the sky was purple. "What were you expecting? For Hoshido to eventually get bored attacking? We need to launch an offensive, and Nestra has the boats required to carry out the operations. Nohr will be defended by the remaining troops, and I have allowed the creation of more Faceless across the territory to protect the country. Furthermore, peasants who join the army to help defend the territory will be able to receive gold coins, food and may even settle in Hoshido after it's been conquered."

The king approached Corrin, putting his hand on his shoulder, having seemingly realized that the young man wasn't handling it very well.

"Put that at the back of your mind and enjoy the show. You will be sent the day after tomorrow, and your family will be backing you up."

Was he going to be the one to invade his country? Would he need to cause desolation and mayhem across the green plains? In spite of everything, there were still good people within the country, and he didn't want to harm either these or his royal family. Their ties of blood may be false (which is an info that he was still digesting) but in the end, they still grew up being raised by his mother, and he still came to feel a sense of fraternity with them.

At the same time, Takumi's wrath only grew with each day, and the young man feared that it'd eventually come to a point where he would legitimately need to kill his younger sibling. Not to mention Hinoka or Ryoma, fearsome warriors in their own rights… or even Sakura, who, soft as she was, would certainly require to be defeated to cut off a wide source of healing.

"If you wish to ask me a question, feel free to do so."

"Ah, yes, hm… father, I have a question relating to Cheve?"

He nearly backed off when the slightest hint of annoyance appeared on Garon's face, but he decided not to let it slide. Backing off was not the Nohrian way, and simply ignoring the problem just wasn't right.

"I… I must ask. Why would you order for half of Cheve to burn? They had their lesson when we defeated the rebel army and Hoshido."

"Oh, that." He said, shrugging. "Cheve has already conspired once with Sumeragi, and we let it slide. If we end the uprising but leave the town well, then they'll be off to conspire again, and Nohr will end up looking weak."

Garon's fist rose but not towards Corrin : Instead, he waved it at some invisible enemy in the ceiling.

"Nohr's value is… strength. Our country is built on this principle. If we do not use that strength against those who constantly rise against us, then others will follow." He said. "In those times of war, decisive actions are needed. Cheve may burn, but hopefully this will galvanize the other towns into avoiding… rash actions." Garon's eyes turned towards him. "This, my boy, will certainly seems cruel to you, and I fully recognize it, but this is the kind of decisions that those in powers need to take. One only knows the sharpness of a blade or the warmth of a fire when they test their flesh against it, after all. This is painful, but it will need to occur only once."

Corrin shook his head. "But, I've managed to pacify the Ice Tribe, have I not? Should innocent people die just as a lesson?"

"You have, but in this world, the weak uses the pity of the strong to topple them. I have experimented that once." He said. "And I do not want for you or my other children to ever experience that. But enough of that! Tonight is meant to celebrate, and you have much to do in preparation! You should go see Camilla before she force her way into the room to get her hands on you!" Concluded the king, with a little smile, though his eyes carried a different story.

Corrin laughed politely but his mind raced everywhere. He wanted to yell at his father for sacrificing innocent people as a showcase of might, but he was tired, and slowly, he realized that words wouldn't work. "You're right, Father, but if I shall, there is someone who would like to meet you?"

Garon raised a dubious eyebrow. "Let them enter."

The young prince walked back and opened the doors leading to the room, quickly inviting Zola in with a few motions. The small man yelped a little and then made his way into the room, desperately fighting against stress. Garon's somewhat warm expression turned sour when he noticed the small man, and Zola's stress amplified itself further. Corrin quickly realized that he made a mistake, but before he could attempt to get things under control, Zola tried his luck.

"H-hello, Milord. I only dare to stand in your presence for a few seconds! Lord Corrin has suggested that I should meet you, for…"

"And why would I waste my time on some soldier?"

Corrin intervened quickly. "He made the invisible army that… walked to Macarath!" He said. "This requires high skill, doesn't it?"

"Y-yes, if I may say so. With this, we could easily ambush the enemy and approach their positions. The spell has a few imperfections but…"

Garon interrupted him quickly. "The invisible army? It is the result of Iago's research, not your own."

Zola gasped briefly. "But, milord, I…"

"Beside, I… do not plan for the invisible army to be used offensively. Hoshido's diviners must be developing a counter as we speak. And I… wish to see great clashes in the plains. Nohr is a country of power. Why would we _hide_ from the enemy when we can challenge them

"This… this plan will make it easy for us to put an end to the war, with all due respect."

Garon jammed a finger right at Zola. "You would contest your king's decision?" He yelled, and the pressure came back. Corrin, who wasn't even the target of Garon's wrath, could barely remember to breath. The jester forgot how to _stand_, almost collapsing to his feet in fear.

"I will bring this _discussion _up to Iago, Zola. And should his story not concord with yours, I suggest you get _very _familiar with the Bottomless Canyon, because this is where you'll be reassigned once this is all over!"

Zola stood, crushed. And Corrin understood that he made a grave mistake.

"I… I'm sorry, Zola, you…"

The mage got up and, wordlessly, left without even bothering to change his facial expression. Corrin looked at him, and then back at Garon. The man's chummy behavior was back on, though his grin had a slight vicious edge to it. The pressure, once more, was gone.

"You shouldn't become someone's friend so casually, Corrin. In the end, they will only use you to try to curry favor for me." Concluded the King, in a gentle yet chiding tone of voice. "You should go now."

"O-of course, father. See you soon!"

Corrin closed the doors but Zola was already gone, leaving only Leo behind. The young man's head was turned towards the stairs, indicating that the small jester had fled there. This prompted the dragon prince to give chase, though unfortunately, he was stopped when his younger brother's hand rose.

"How was the encounter with Father?"

Corrin whispered as quickly as he could. "It was good, he praised me a little and brought up his plans for tonight forth. He… I confronted him about Cheve but he just told me something about swords and fire and I brought Zola to talk-"

Leo's eyes nearly leapt out of their sockets. "You brought _Zola_ to talk to Father?"

"Yes! I… I know, it was dumb! I need to make amends now!"

"No need. You have a schedule." Said Leo. "I will arrange it so that Iago won't get to punish him, but in the future, you should know better before bringing people to him. You know that he has no real love for… those who are not of his bloodline."

"Yes, I… I'm sorry. We've talked and I hope he won't shun me…"

"I'm sure he will… but instead of him, you should focus more on Camilla. She wants to see you too?"

"Huh? What for?"

The door opened behind him, and Leo leaned to the right slightly, his face now solemn.

"Good luck, my little brother."

And, with that, Corrin was snatched backwards.

…

_A few minutes ago_

"The King's Shadow." Repeated Beruka. "Is that right?"

"Yes… Your skills are quite valuable to them."

The young woman leant back on her chair, her cold slanted eyes focusing on the tapestry above her. Quite a prestigious invitation : Ever since the rise of Nohr, the King's Shadow has been active, protecting members of the royal family (though more generally, they shielded the King and Queen) or taking out important targets. At least one or two were always in presence of the King, though people said that there was only one King's Shadow, though they had the prowess to make it like there were more of them.

They served as boogeymen within Nohr. People spoke of tales where people who conspired against the royal family (or, depending on the mental state of the ruler, merely expressed negativity towards them) were found dead. Some even gave them magical powers, being able to use a complicated ritual to instantly kill anyone in Nohr, no matter the location, with a gesture. They also possessed immense fighting skills, with rumors affirming that they were trained to be able to defeated rogue princes or princesses bestowed with Nohr's divine weapons.

In terms of behavior, they merely did what the King ordered them to do, no matter how vile. Second thoughts were not allowed, and they felt no empathy for their fellow beings.

Rumors said that, during the concubine wars, a woman and her child were attacked and fell at the feet of a nearby Shadow. The woman begged it for help, but since those weren't royal orders, the assassin refused to move and simply let both woman and child die at their feet, only leaving when people eventually approached. A fake story in Beruka's eyes, but she often heard it repeated by citizens of Nohr, with hushed tones.

No one knew how to become a Shadow. A rumor argued black magic but another implied something more troublesome…

"I am honored." She said, simply enough. Camilla blinked in surprise.

"You don't mind joining them?" Said the princess. "My poor Beruka, do you know how they handle the recruitment? You would need to abandon your name and identity and forever hide your face beneath that awful mask… this would be a pretty sad existence, my dear!"

"I know." Replied Beruka. "But I'm at peace with that. This is the end of the road that I have taken. My identity will be erased, and make way for the power that truly matters."

Camilla seemed almost hurt. "What do you mean?"

Beruka spoke without emoting much. "I am an assassin. People do not care about what I am, or what I think. They care about my skills and my strength. Becoming a King's shadow is the final part of this. I will finally become… a weapon."

"But… it will!" Protested Camilla. "What about me? Or Selena? Or the other members of the army?"

The assassin wanted to merely thank Camilla at this point, and simply dismiss the others as nothing worth remembering, but the words… didn't exactly came out the way she wanted to, almost like they were stuck.

"I…"

"What about Corrin? We all care about _you_, Beruka."

Beruka's eyes widened briefly, but she didn't think, simply looking away. Camilla leaned forward and "gently" grabbed her by the jaw to turn her head towards hers.

"When I saw you on the floor… whispering about "not returning until I'm dead" and all, I decided to take you in because I thought that no one should be reduced to that." Explained Camilla. "I… may cuddle you at times, and I know that you're irritated with it, but I care about you. We all do."

The assassin gently shook her head. Everything was rushing into her mind. Her victories, her rare defeats, her interactions with Selena, Camilla or even Corrin… was it worth giving all that up for that position?

But at the same time, what was her path? Once the war was over, she was just going to return to her duty as an assassin, and people would go about with their lives, no longer caring about her now that peace had settled. Being a King's Shadow would perhaps free her from the hesitation that she felt. Allow her to stamp out those sentiments that carved out a weakness in the armor that she built for herself.

Beruka had already tasted betrayal once. And she knew that it would come eventually.

Beruka finally spoke. "I thank you for granting me the chance to live on. I shall… consider my options." And she almost frowned, because she definitely intended not to leave it up to the imagination.

Before she could correct herself though, her lord slapped her hands together with a wide smile, as if Beruka definitely said that she wouldn't join Garon's elite guard instead of leaving it up in the air. The tall princess got up immediately and raised her hands above her head, letting out a celebratory laugh.

"I'm so glad about this my little retainer! This ought to be celebrated tonight!" Said Camilla. Beruka briefly contemplated a last-ditch attempt at fleeing the room, but before she could do so, Camilla moved over to a nearby closet and opened it as dramatically as possible, soon revealing a set of clothes. Beruka, like a prey in front of a predator, realized just what exactly what about to happen.

"I refuse." She said.

"Oh no, you won't need to wear a dress… but Father has decreed that our retainers should look good." She said. "Don't worry though, I'm aware of your… particular taste, so you won't be all dolled up!"

"I have no wish to be dressed up, my armor is fine as it is." Answered Beruka. Camilla's answer was to simply close her eyes and smile politely, and the younger woman knew that she had been placed under the "death stare" that Selena referenced often. Thus, the battle was lost on her side.

"Very well." Sighed Beruka, not having much she could do at this point. Once more, Camilla clapped her hand and then joined them together. She got up and proceeded to head towards a table with some drinks on it, quickly pouring water into two glasses and handing it to Beruka.

"Excellent news! The other retainers will also get themselves some fashion attention, if you're curious about it!"

"I wasn-"

"So! How is your battle buddying progressing with… Selena? I've been looking forward to having the two of you get to know each other! You're both strong girls but your demeanors couldn't be more different! I was so excited about introducing one to the other!"

"Selena is… eager to get to know me." Answered Beruka, not quite knowing what to do in the front of Camilla's quasi-onslaught of words. "I have noticed that she apparently doesn't know some of Cyrkensia's places in spite of it being her supposed birth place... that, plus the small traces of an unidentified accent and proximity with the equally mysterious Laslow and Odin…"

Camilla cheekily winked at Beruka. "Oh, yes! I've tried to trap her like that. Isn't she cute when she sputters?"

Beruka looked at her liege as if she just grew another head.

"My liege, then it may not be safe… she is obviously…"

"A spy? Oh, she would be quite a poor one at this point, wouldn't she?" She said. "I do believe that Selena is lying, but I do not believe that her reasons for doing so are _evil _at the same time, my dear!"

"She is still hiding her intentions, we should…"

"We should what?" Said Camilla, cocking her head to the side. "She's quite the useful ally, I must say. And if her intention were to harm our great family, then I fear that she lost quite a few occasions. I understand your worries, Beruka, but the idealist in my chest tells me that it would be criminal to plot against her when she has yet to do anything wrong…" And then the princess leaned in." And the realist would indicate that our actual enemy is somewhat more pressing."

"… You are correct." Mumbled Beruka. She took a drink, silently taking note of the purity of the water : The best that she tasted in ages.

"… But if you want, once the war is over, we'll all gather around an Hoshidan table, I'll get you _saké._" Camilla looked up at the ceiling a little, also tasting her drink. "And we'll talk about this all together! Isn't that fun!"

"… Perhaps." Answered Beruka. She wished she could say more, but before that could happen, they both heard large doors slamming violently in the distance, and rapid footsteps leaving the area. Camilla looked worried, but the lack of reaction from Leo in the halls hinted that it wasn't Corrin. And beside, at this point, she knew the sounds that he made when he walked, especially when they followed suit.

Camilla smiled and quickly got up, getting at the door and waiting for confirmation that Corrin was there. Once the young man engaged in a conversation with Leo, the princess leapt on the occasion ferociously, opening the door and quickly grabbing him by the shoulder before putting him inside the room, sending him spinning into her quarters. Having anticipated this, the assassin was there to help, catching him with one hand and nodding solemnly.

"I'm so glad you're here Corrin! How was the encounter with Father?"

"I'm… I'm seeing endless stars… whoah…"

"Great! It must've been quite good! But enough of that, Corrin! You must look proper for the scene that is coming!"

Corrin was still quite dizzied. Beruka took one look at her drink, shrugged, and then poured some water on his face; "My gosh! It was full of star… huh?" He interrupted himself, looking around. "Where…"

"Hello Corrin! Welcome back to Cyrkensia! It's your time to put on some princely clothes!"

Camilla moved over to a door and opened it, revealing a changing room. This snapped Corrin out of his state fully, and Beruka "merely" raised an eyebrow in surprise.

The princess politely put her hand up to her mouth and laughed politely. "Oh you won't be going together! But you're coming out of this room all-prettied up… or you're _never _coming out of this room, hehe!" And while Corrin deemed it a joke, the assassin quickly understood that her lady was not speaking in jest.

"You'll go first, Beruka! And you better not run, Corrin my dear!"

"Sure but… don't dress me up, please? I can do it myself if you want!"

"But certainly! Now come!"

Camilla took hold of Beruka and slowly dragged her into the room. The stoic wyvern rider turned around only once to stare at her battle buddy, waiting until the door was almost closed to deliver her final lines.

"Farewell."

…

The make-over wasn't as drastic as Beruka hoped (she could keep her bandana), but the clothes themselves were a bit too… formal to her liking. She had a black shirt with a turtleneck and a grey vest with several red buttons. Below, her boots and pants (that would perhaps tear if she were to move her legs just a bit too quickly) shared a black color scheme, and she wore a gray belt sadly devoid of weapons, though she kept a knife hidden in her baggy sleeves. At least she managed to acquire a scarf, in a vain attempt to conceal part of her face.

Corrin had been luckier, and picked an ensemble similar to Leo's, though without a cape. His blue vest had a tucked collar though, and there was a small opening below the neck to reveal his white shirt. Parts of the vest, like in the extremities or the sleeves, had golden lines on them. He certainly had an easier time than Beruka, even if he looked bothered at points nonetheless. He was certainly… noticeable, from her point of view. And he, himself, took the time to look at her a little once she was out of the room.

"Oh-oh, Beruka, you're so formal!" Teased Selena. "Are you out to impress _someone_?"

"Silence."

Selena's outfit was all red, but like her fellow retainer, it wasn't some cumbersome dress. She wasn't fully prepared for battle, since she allowed her hair to flow freely (a foolish mistake from Beruka's point of view). Only Peri and Elise were wearing dresses, and all the retainers in the room agreed that the former was probably hiding weapons beneath it. The men's outfits were practical as well, though Odin had wisely decided to cover himself in various outfits of different colors to "shine like the rainbow and ward off the eternal darkness!"

The retainers were gathered with their royals. There were two chairs at the side of each "throne" where a descendant of the dusk dragon sat. What they assumed to be Xander's place was taken by Iago, to the displeasure of Laslow and Peri. Azura's seat was the right to Peri (and had no other chairs for retainers) but there stood no traces of the blue-haired singer.

Garon himself was on a platform above the royals and Iago (themselves at a high position above the "lake"). On the right wing of the opera, a lot of politicians and lords were present, eager to watch some opera. On the left, the rich inhabitants or tourists also sat. Below, at the "lake", the battle seemed to have reached a stalemate, though a rich or two valiantly tried to upset the status quo to get closer.

"Where's Azura?" Said Corrin. To which, Leo could answer by shaking his head. She'd been summoned by the King's Shadow, but had gone missing, and Garon wasn't willing to delay the performance.

The lights dimmed, and a hundred eyes settled on the stage. A rather _well-fed _bearded man, dressed in orange and yellow clothing, stood at the center of the stage, facing a blonde woman.

"Lezda, Duke Omred is under attack by the evil forces of…"

…

The actress shook her head in amusement. "Ohhh, nothing Klin, we were about to have a feast!"

"Great!" Said "Klin", a man clad in green. His enthusiastic declaration was met with a rather thunder bout of laughter from the protagonist and her father, and the piece ended, earning itself applause.

"… I don't get it, Klin just leapt out of the broken mirror at the very end!" Complained Elise.

Camilla shook her head. "I wasn't very impressed at the quick defeat of the antagonist. He was so hyped up and yet it ended so… anticlimactically!"

"And he wasn't really developed." Sighed Leo. "Since he spent all the piece hanging around at his castle, perhaps he could consider reading some books to gain a personality"!

Iago shook his head. "Klin's presence is very underwhelming here. The circumstances of his vanishing aren't even explained!"

"…. I liked, hm, the acting." Added Corrin. Beruka yawned. If that was the best that the "high-arts" could do, then perhaps she was right to remain numb to it. A quick look around allowed her to see that she wasn't exactly alone in her opinions. At most, people were amused in a way perhaps unintended by the author.

An old man ran on stage, shooing the actors away and quickly attempting to earn back the audience's attention. He looked nervous, but his grin was an hopeful one.

"Erm, thanks to mister Ashren for this… magnificent display of arts. Erm, moving on, we are glad to announce that miss Layla will now be singing! Please, everyone, give her a round of applause!"

To her surprise, clapping did ensue around the room, and people who were either asleep or considering an escape from the room either woke up or gladly returned to their seat. Looking up, she could see that the loudest clapping sound came from right above her : King Garon himself. His fondness for Layla was somewhat-known across the continent, but from what she could tell, the stern king was genuinely fond of her.

After a few seconds, a young woman walked on stage. She had long purple hair, a tanned skin and was dressed in a gaudy dance outfit. Part of her face was hidden by a veil in front of her, but it was easy to recognize Layla, Nestra's eminent singer. The young woman took the time to wordlessly thank the crowd by waving her hand, and then reached the end of the stage. Corrin sadly shook his head.

"Too bad Azura won't see this… I bet she'd love this Layla person!"

The music started, and Layla's song began.

"_Embrace the dark…"_

…

**N/A : **Sort of a cliffhanger! Azura's song begins! Is Garon going to groan in a very unpleasant manner again?

Speaking of Garon, here he is! As you can see, I'm trying to make him more sympathetic to Corrin but to anyone else, he's the same as in the game! I plan to change his character, but not necessarily in a "good" way…

One more bonding chapter. Beruka learns about her recruitment, and Corrin learns about Hoshido's upcoming invasion. Both of those reveals will be following them later in the fic! Oh, and action is coming!

What did you think? Reviews help greatly!

See you soon!


	15. The Nestran offensive

"_Embrace the dark, you call a home…"_

The lacking piece from earlier was all but forgotten as soon as the song started. Royals, nobles, soldiers or rich people alike were leaning forward, now focused on the song. Not a single soul in the room dared to even thinks about anything else, fearful at the idea that they could miss even one second of what was to come. Even Peri, who had taken it on herself to enthusiastically point out what was happening on stage, seemed to be almost mesmerized by the song.

The assassin's attention was fully focused on Layla as well, to a degree that would probably unsettle her if she had more control over what she was doing. The singer basked in the attention briefly before continuing her verses.

"_Gaze upon an empty white throne. A legacy of lies, a familiar disguise…"_

Breaking away from the charm to glance to her right, Beruka could see that Corrin was especially taken by the song : A small tear was running down his right cheek, though he looked too mesmerized to respond to anything that she could comment. Then, a soft blue glow illuminated his face, and the retainer's attention snapped back to the stage : Layla was bending the water around her as she danced, forming complex liquid shapes.

She waited briefly and then continued the song. Everyone in the room was silent and hanging on her lips.

"_Sing with me a song of conquest and fate, the black pillar cracks beneath its weight."_

The song continued, but the Royals were interrupted by a most disagreeable sound when someone began to grunt loudly above them. Iago, irritated by the sound, was the first to intervene, turning around to point an accusatory finger at one of the retainers. Upon seeing that none of them were making noises though, his cry of accusation died before it could properly come out. Seeing that none of his royal neighbors were causing the noise, the slimy mage instead looked up, and noticed that the sounds were coming from above.

King Garon was the one who was making all the ruckus above, and, slowly, all the people on the platform below were realizing that. Before any of them could react though, the performance kicked up when the purple-haired songstress made a sweeping motion with her arms, sending several circles of water all across the area and above the people on the pagodas. This illuminated the entire room in a dense blue light, and to the amazement of the people who weren't busy with what was happening to the king, water droplets were in the room, dancing along with the woman.

"_Night breaks through the day, hard as a stone, lost in thoughts all alone!"_

This seemed to rattle Corrin especially, and the young man got up from his chair, preparing to say something. But Garon interjected with a whole new set of grunting and groaning, seemingly struggling with something. He was making enough noises to cause the people on nearby platforms to turn around now, and the nearby listeners could swear that there was an echo to his latest grunts, who were slowly sounding less and less human! Layla continued her dance, interrupting her song at the moment. Iago gestured for the guards to quickly rejoin Garon and then reached the edge of his own platform, waving his arms.

"CEASE THIS IMMEDIATELY! THE KING IS UNDER PERIL!" He yelled. The songstress didn't stop yet, but his cry for help caused some ruckus amongst the crowd. Corrin also leapt to the railing on the platform but not to speak : Instead, he used his draconic agility to leap all the way to his King's platform, to try and see just what exactly was happening. Upon arriving, though, Corrin quickly came to a shocking sight, the likes of which almost made him trip on the railing.

Garon's grey skin was… _leaking_. Part of it was dripping on the floor, tainting it in grey. His entire body was shaking around at high speed, to the point where the young man's eyes could barely make out the blank white look on his eyes. The king's throne laid at his feet while he retreated deeper into the darkness of the room, in an attempt to prevent anyone from seeing him. His movements were wild and trashy, like a cornered animal struggling to escape from a predator's deadly grasp.

"Father! What is hap-"

Garon erratically grabbed his golden throne and, with a uncoordinated swipe of his hand, sent flying backward into one of the doors leading to his platform, crumbling both the throne and the door. He then attempted to put his other hand on his face, perhaps to attempt to hide his leaking problem. It worked, but his black armored glove ended up sticking to his face, causing the King to incoherently attempt to get it off while grunting.

"Let me help you!" Yelled Corrin, but the young man's brave attempt at helping his father was rewarded with a sudden slap to the face caused by Garon's unfocused movement, sending the prince flying with such strength that he was sent flying out of the platform all the way into the "lake" below with a loud splash. It would be almost comical if it weren't for the sheer grotesque aspect of the situation.

Corrin's sudden fall though, interrupted the songstress's performance, and the music stopped in time for the confused guard to take another path to Garon. Layla began to quickly fled right as the draconic prince emerged out of the water, stepping upon a pagoda owed by a rich old couple. He had a nasty bruise on his face, but he didn't let that slow him down, though he turned towards the owners of the boat he had temporarily commandeered.

"Sorry for the interruption, but I guess its o-"

Explosions rang out around the room, causing more panic and confusion. Beruka, from her spot, could see that they came out of the various doors around the area, with an especially large one striking the doors leading to the politicians of Eastern Dreiz. Thinking quickly, Leo opened his tome and casted a spell on the door leading to their platform, causing a magical tree of a sort to quickly sprout to the ground to block it. A few seconds afterwards, a large explosion destroyed both the door and the tree, though it contained it enough to save the other people on the platforms.

Out of the smoke, various Hoshidans emerged. Unlike the other soldiers that she encountered over the past weeks though, those invaders all had red demon masks on their faces and had no uniform, with some even going into battle shirtless. A few wore armor, but it was quite crudely made, and in some cases it boiled down to having a large pauldron over their shoulders.

"Death to the royal family!" Yelled one of them, approaching Elise… and making the fatal mistakes of ignoring her two retainers, apparently thinking of them as harmless without their weapons. Effie proved him wrong very quickly by punching him in the face, shattering his red mask and sending the man sprawling on the floor. Beruka was the second to act, immediately running up to take the jagged sword he was carrying before beginning to slice at the incoming attackers, felling three in the blink of an eye.

Selena came running, intending to run into the hallway. "Hey, pass!" She said, and Beruka did that, throwing the sword her way. The redhead acquired the weapon swiftly and used it to dispose of two incoming soldiers, stylishly taking them down before either realized it. She turned around, as if waiting to see if anyone saw it, but only Beruka was close enough to see her at the moment, and she was busy slamming a man's head into the wooden floor with enough force to outright shatter it.

"Yeah! The fun part!" Said Peri. Iago was hiding behind her and Laslow. He didn't exactly bring his precious tome, reducing Nohr's "greatest tactician" and mage into a helpless liability. "P-protect me and King Garon!"

"Good work girls! I'll be ensuring our Father's safety, protect Elise! Oh and Iago."

Camilla imitated Corrin's maneuver fairly easily after acquiring a mace from a fallen Hoshidan. And, to Beruka, it became clear that the winning condition was to form groups to assist the royals, Iago and the politicians. Staying together in the same platform was dangerous, since archers could attempt to take shots at the royals. Luckily, most of the retainers chose to follow suit, with Elise and Iago standing in the middle. Leo was near them, but since he had his legendary weapon on, he could easily defend himself.

Beruka cut down another Hoshidan and began to enumerate the goals. "We need to help the politicians and the King while putting our allies at a safe place. We will need to split."

"I'll handle the rescue!" Said Selena, winking with a confident smile. Beruka didn't glance at her, to better intercept future projectiles, but she did acknowledge what she said. Considering what she learned recently, she would be reluctant about it, but now wasn't the time to really bother with that.

"You're going to just go and help them on your own?!" Questioned Niles, for once too surprised to use his sardonic wit.

"You can trust her on that!" Said Laslow.

"Theredmaidenwillbloom- oh." Said Odin, barely dodging an arrow. "We should really hurry up! There's a lot of these guys!"

"Fine. Go."

"See ya soon!"

Selena leapt towards the door, and Beruka considered following before shaking her head. Next was saving the royals.

The group progressed through the halls quickly, with Beruka leading. Terror and destruction reigned in the ruined opera, but since a lot of Nohrians soldiers were gathered there, in uniforms or not, the Hoshidans sound found themselves pushed back. From what she could tell, those soldiers weren't very skilled : Even at hand-to-hand, she was confident in her ability to weave through their strikes and disable them, either by punching them straight in the nose, with enough strength to topple them or by hitting specific points, like the throat or heart.

A particularly large masked man fell after one such strike, clearing the way for a room where a bunch of Nohrians soldiers had gathered with hapless spectators. Tellingly though, even the spectators held blood-soaked weapons taken from the enemy, and only the older ones were placing themselves at the center of the group. Charlotte stood in front of the group, with an angry expression on her face. Going by the tears in her clothing, it was easy to guess just what managed to annoy her this much.

"I guess you guys are al-Ohhh, lord Leo! I… ohhh, I'm glad none of you are wounded, I would be so sad if…"

"Protect Lady Elise." Interrupted Leo. "Where is Corrin and how is the situation evolving?"

Felicia piped up. "We-well, the Hoshidans are… losing right now! We've got a lot of soldiers so they're kind of overpowering them…" And she punched the air briefly, without losing her awkward smile. "But I think things are still tough near the politicians, so we may wanna head there!"

"I saw Corrin leap over to that side!" Said Silas. "So we really need to send someone!"

Iago pushed his way past the retainers and got himself in the middle of the crowd. "Well, I would certainly love to help Lord Corrin but it is key that I remain safe!"

Leo sighed. "I'm going to help. Might as well help with things. Do we have staves at hand?"

Silas spoke up. "The troubadours are already taking care of people within certain zones."

"Good. Beruka, Laslow, follow me. We're going to need to avoid just slashing in since there will be nobles. I'm going to need people who can keep their calm. The rest of you, either defend or spread to finish off our enemies."

Laslow grabbed a katana and Beruka did the same with a mace, and soon, soldiers scattered around the halls. The assassin's mind briefly wandered to Nyx or Kaze, who didn't show themselves (the former argued that she had already seen the best that art could offer, and the latter said that he would rather not be recognized by the people who saw him "die" months ago at Windmire), or even Azura. It was clear in her mind that the blue-haired songstress was involved in the curse of Garon, but even bigger concerns within her mind prevented her from thinking about it.

For an instance, where Hoshidans attacking the city or just the opera? How did they sneak past Nohr's vigilant gaze? Just why did the curse affect the King and not them in particular? She had a lot of questions in her mind, but the only thing she could do was to leap and smash a terrorist in the face using her mace.

She took a look at her weapon and scoffed. "Crude design."

Her thoughts eventually wandered to Corrin, but unlike Kaze or Nyx, the young man was within the area, with a painful bruise on the jaw, a hundred questions in mind and what was certainly just as many hostiles swarming the area to threaten the citizens of Nohr and Nestra. The people on the pagodas below screamed in shock and surprise, especially when a bunch of archers began to shoot at them from above!

"Take cover!"

Corrin grabbed the handle of Yato, but only remembered too late that it could only deflect some pitiful arrows. Quickly shaking his head, the young man launched himself towards a nearby pagoda and leapt as soon as he managed to step on it, reaching the archers with a single leap. Panicked at his superhuman feat, the archers were slow to toss out arrows his way, though he could feel a sudden sharp, cold pain close to his shoulder.

Shrugging it off, Corrin landed in front of the archer and swiftly disabled them with a circular kick, snapping their weapons in half at the same time to prevent another Hoshidan from attempting to pick up where his comrades left off. He could perhaps think about getting that arrow off, but his eyes revealed to him that the citizens on the platform were getting attacked, and the overwhelmed guards on the structure struggled to fight back yet.

The arrow would wait.

Corrin ran over to the nearest Hoshidan and knocked him out cold with an uppercut, before helping up the lady that he was about to attack. Knowing that she wasn't out of danger yet but being unwilling to let even a single innocent die, Corrin helped her up and ran to the next three Hoshidans, dispatching them with the same forceful shove. He then acrobatically leapt over to the next foe to slam his feet unto the back of his head, slamming the man into the floor right before he managed to cut a poor old couple in half.

"Are you alright?!"

"I-y-look out!"

Corrin swung the back of his fist behind him, and the thud behind him, as well as the familiar glancing of a sword, convinced him that he managed to get his mark.

"Milord, you're wounded!"

"Better me than you! Stay near the guards!"

As for the arrow, he simply used his strength to snap part of it in half. Removing the arrowhead itself could be dangerous or, at least, painfully distracting, and the last thing he wanted is for innocent blood to be shed. Which is why he broke the arrow shortly before running over to a guard who was struggling with one of the warriors to slam his fist into the warrior's jaw, quickly ending the guard's duel.

"Protect the others and group up! I'll handle the others!"

And the dragon prince started to fight again, effortlessly moving from one opponent to the other. He struck hard enough to send grown men flying and shatter armor, moved with enough speed to cross the platform back and forth multiple times and his eyes felt "awakened", seeing every distraction and almost calculating the paths of whatever painfully slow swipes were thrown his way. He may have been fighting without a sword, but Corrin felt stronger than he's ever been before.

The young man's fist slammed itself into some mook's stomach, and with that, he sent him hurling off the edge of the platform and into the river below. He briefly stopped to see if he was alright, but his concentration was too great to be so easily broken, and he instead leapt to the next platform once he was clear, ignoring the thankful words sent his way or the red stain near his shoulder.

Strangely though, it didn't hurt. But he figured that this was a fragile balance : As soon as he was out of his hyper-focused state, then he'd feel the pain and exhaustion. And he actually quite liked the feeling of power that was spreading across his body. It almost reminded him of that power that he tapped into, against Ryoma… but he didn't think any further of it. He simply leapt into the thick of things and swung his fists and legs around.

A kick to the jaw disabled a Hoshidan, and sailed across the air again to impact another right in the chest. Several more approached in a circle, to try to overwhelm him, but the prince answered their desperate assault by putting his hands on the ground and stylishly spinning his legs, effortlessly defeating several men and women with his spin. Wisely, a particular assailant stands back to try and avoid the tornado, but the young man adapted quickly, pushing against the ground with his two hands to launch himself in the air, to the quickly-interrupted surprise of the lone Hoshidan.

The blue-haired young man made an impressive landing, and smirked cockily, but dared not to make any comments, choosing to let his action speaks for himself. And while he would've otherwise avoided doing anything cocky before the safety of his fellow Nohrians was guaranteed, at this point, he was quite confident in his ability to take on the last remaining assailant on the platform.

The man seemed to belong to a higher hierarchy compared to the broken goons who laid at the prince's feet. He had half a mask for starter, but his build was more muscular and several scars ran across his shirtless body. His bald head was decorated with a few tattoos and the small white beard hinted that he was an older man.

Somewhere, Corrin hoped he wasn't going to go down as easily as the others.

The man pointed an accusatory finger at Corrin. "Traitorous welp!" He said. "Why must you always stand in Hoshido's way? This continent will be far worse off if Garon and his cowardly goons are allowed to live!"

"Your men are blatantly attacking innocents just as well, and I can't stand against that." Said Corrin. "Stand down."

Of course, the bald man refused to comply, instead grabbing a large mace and promptly running up to the prince. Putting every once in his power within the blow, he raised the weapon high above his head and brought it down screaming… only for it to be very easily blocked, though the impact was tough enough to damage the ground at Corrin's feet, damaging it more than it actually damaged the dragon prince, who simply withstood the attack easily.

The towering man noticed his predicament but his younger foe simply kept his grasp on the weapon before pulling his free arm back and delivering a powerful uppercut, easily shattering it into multiple pieces! This freed the leader, who stumbled back in awe and amazement. His surprise was short-lived though, because the prince immediately made a flying leap to his face, knocking him out with a powerful jab. He didn't put in as much efforts as he did for the mace, but it would still be sufficient to put him out of commission!

Corrin landed on the floor right as the bald man fell on his back in defeat, and briefly spread his arms to the crowd. It took it a little while to respond, but the clapping, once it got going, was quite wild! This pleased the prince, though the adrenaline started to slowly wear off. To his surprise, he wasn't really exhausted much by the feats he did, though the sudden pain on his shoulder fully brought him back into reality. Wincing, the young prince put a hand on the wound and observed his fellow Nohrians.

"Is everyone alright?" He asked, ignoring his own injury.

Up above, he could hear the sound of fighting dying down and, after a scant few seconds, Leo, Beruka and Laslow burst in.

"Have no fear!" Began Laslow. "We're… oh."

Corrin waved awkwardly and smiled awkwardly. "H-hey, huh, I defeated them." He said. If he were more honest, he'd add a _somehow_. "Are the others safe?"

"Yes." Answered Beruka, looking down at the bodies. She knew of Corrin's strength, but taking down a dozen Hoshidans on his own using nothing but his fists was highly commendable. "… You're wounded." She pointed out.

"Oooohhh, yeah." He said, as if only remembering. "How's father?"

"He should be good. Come, let's get you an healer".

…

The Nohrian healers swept through the opera, providing healing for those who weren't slain by the surprise attack. Guards were sent in Cyrkensia to see if the city somehow fell, but it seemed that the attack was limited to the opera for now, though the rat catchers were hard at work trying to look for hidden Hoshidan troops. The units who weren't investigating the opera to search for the stragglers or doing the aforementioned duties were currently packed in the opera, along with the surviving authorities of the Western Dreiz.

Corrin was sitting at the edge of a platform, observing as his wound closed itself thanks to Elise's staff. He moved his legs every so and then, struggling not to leap out of his seat and run out of the opera. His discarded shirt and vest was next to him, since it apparently made it easier to remove the arrowhead.

"Wow, that's a big wound!" Said Elise. "If you don't stop moving we're going to have trouble fixing that!"

"Right, s-sorry!"

He was confused at how nasty his injury had gotten. He had been wearing armor previously, but it didn't help much against the fearsome Fujin Yumi, and yet he had an easier time walking off wounds caused by the divine weapon. Once they extracted the arrowhead, one of the healers took it, to try and see if there was anything magical about it.

The wound taking a certain time to fix was a bother for him : He wished to find Azura, who had gone missing. He was sure that her song had something to do with Garon, and while he didn't really know how she managed to transform herself, he knew that it was definitely her. Only the talented songstress could so easily catch the attention of an entire audience after all, and he was aware of her connection to water.

The troubling thing though, was the Hoshidan attack on Nestra. Was she somehow in league with them? Was it a betrayal on her part? He shuddered to even think about the consequences should Leo, Camilla or the higher-ranked members of the army start to think about it. The timing between Garon's increasing discomfort and the attack was perfect after all, and Azura always stood away from the others, making it easier for them to think that something was up. How could he begin to convince them that he was innocent?

"Here!" Said Elise, tapping Corrin in the shoulder with her staff. "No problem!"

"Hehe, thanks little sister!" He said, quickly putting his clothing back on. Luckily for him, most of the people were too busy looking around to pay heed for his lack of upper clothing. Beruka, who was standing close to him, remained pretty composed about it at least, casually putting her hand on his shoulder as soon as he began to step out of the room.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

Corrin looked back at her and spoke quickly. "I need to find Azura." He said. "She's out there somewhere and I need to find her to see what was the deal at the stage."

Beruka prepared to answer but Leo proved swifter, subtly walking in Corrin's way while laying his hand on his shoulder. "A noble idea, Corrin, but Father is about to make his speech and you need to be there to witness it as a prince of Nohr. If that reassures you, we'll attempt to find Azura with everything we've got."

Corrin looked briefly reassured but then worry appeared once more on his face. "But what if they…"

"Milord, Garon's about to make his speech." Interrupted Beruka, jamming her thumb the way where the King stood. He was next to Camilla and Selena, who apparently managed to successfully carve her way through a bunch of angry warriors on her lonesome (and, to Beruka's tiny joy, didn't use the occasion to ambush princess and king). The redhead soon went to the back of her mind though, since Beruka's wary eyes managed to spot an odd look of shock on Camilla's face.

She had a tiny smile on, but the retainer knew her better than most of the people in the opera (family members, adopted or not, discounted). Camilla had that smile that she had on when she was witnessing something she disliked but couldn't really interfere with. These last few weeks, she put it on more than before.

King Garon looked well, standing tall amidst his two supporters. He certainly didn't look like the gooey mess that he was seemingly transforming into earlier. The sight of it, along with the injury, was still fresh on his mind. So far, nobody had bothered to ask why he was sent flying off the platform, and his bruise was easily treated, but he was hesitant to share his story, being quite confident that absolutely no one would so easily believe it.

Garon sat at the highest platform, and made a habit of not having guards, since security was tight enough and he wished to show his lack of fear over assassins who'd try to come after him. No one but perhaps him and Camilla could have seen him, though he guessed that perhaps the guards did. They were certainly silent about it though. Iago confidently walked up next to the trio, with an irritating little smile on his face.

"Lord Garon has recovered from a most _TREACHEROUS _attempt on his life! Rejoice, everyone, fo-"

"My fellow Nohrians… my proud soldiers… esteemed heads of states and nobles…"

Iago, finding himself interrupted mid-speech, dared not to interrupt Garon. The King had a… particular expression on his face, glancing downward with an intense look on his face. His voice reverberated through the structure, almost threatening to take it down (and they were hardly metaphorical here) and the room couldn't help but gaze at him, plunged in a stupor similar to what "Layla" did.

"As you have seen and experienced tonight, our enemy is ruthless and desperate. Their craven assault has brought fear and bloodshed at the very heart of a neutral country, and I wish to commend the brave soldiers of Nohr for daringly fending off this assault." He said, and, spreading his arms, Garon was met with applause from the crowd. "However, this has confirmed one thing : Hoshido will stop at nothing. _Nothing! _In their attempts to win the war. Their troops have swept across Nohr to attempt to raze its cities and kill its people, and once our righteous army fended them off, then they resorted to those pathetic measures!"

He took a moment to pause.

"… Blood has been shed over our blighted land, but the enemy, though wounded, is far from dead! Ryoma and his cowardly brethren are back at home, planning another dishonorable assault upon us. And they shall continue to plan as long as a single Nohrian lives. As long, perhaps, as a single part of this continent remains under someone else's control…." And the king shook his head. "For the good of Dreiz, the eastern horde must be stopped. We shall do what should've been done long ago! From this point on, Nohr shall no longer be on the defensive! From now on, I plan to launch a massive attack on Hoshido!" Garon clenched his fist. "The circumstances have forced me to adopt these measures, but henceforth, Nestra shall be the starting point for a new crusade! In the following days, our soldiers will swarm across their green plains and slaughter their citizens and soldiers! We will not let a _single _one of them leave this country alive! Their royals will be dragged out into their burning streets to be executed!"

Beruka slowly grasped Corrin's arm, and shook her head silently, mouthing no. Even a blind person would notice the increasing look of panic on his face as the King's speech continued. She didn't exactly know why the arm in particular though.

"And I require your aid, my fellow leaders! Let us pool our resources together into this massive battle! Those of you who do so will be rewarded with their own land in Hoshido and you will inherit the spoils of war!" And Garon's call for help was answered with a rousing cry of revenge from the surviving politicians : Hoshido would not attack them so easily!

"In the past, my friends, I have defeated a threat to the entire continent!" Finished Garon, putting his hand on his chest and taking a solemn tone. "At the twilight of my life, I shall set out to do the very same one last time, so that my children may inherit a land no longer plagued by this eternal war! Let our names be written down in History as the ones who broke the status quo! Let us be known for doing what countless kings and queens failed to do! Let us end Hoshido, ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

Garon raised his hands high above his head, and a thunderous wave of applause ensued. Corrin stood in his spot and Leo quickly approached him, holding Elise by the hand.

"Let's see father."

"Yes, immediately!"

Beruka wished to follow suit (and, for a moment, walked among them) but stopped : The royal family would need to deal with this. Thus, she simply sat and crossed her legs, awaiting their next orders. Laslow also sat down, though neither were exhausted. He briefly fumbled with his hair and looked up at her, with a coy smile, though the circumstances made it waver a little.

"Interesting times, heh?"

"No."

As for the three royals, they quickly got past the elated soldiers and nobles to directly reach Garon's platform, being granted easy access thanks to their draconic blood. In spite of the explosions, the structure remained standing. Elise, however, couldn't see much of what remained of the halls : Corrin had decided to put his hands in front of her face, in an attempt to prevent her from seeing the numerous corpses laying at the royal's feet, making sure that she didn't step on any. Leo helped him with that, though silently.

Once immaculate walls were now covered in ashes and blood, and the young man was bitterly reassured in his beliefs that pain and death followed him everywhere he go, even in golden cities. He walked over the corpses of his enemies and allies alike, and struggled not to show just how devastated he was at the sight, to avoid worrying his allies. He couldn't let them realize just how tired he was of the war, and he himself struggled to come to terms with his urge to just drop everything and rest somewhere.

His sword was broken, death followed him everywhere he went and day by day he realized just how impossible his task was. But yet, he kept going. He refused to simply let despair overwhelm him, because he knew that he would prove his enemies right.

But as of right now, he saw no good end for the war. Hoshido and its citizens were going to die unless Garon was convinced to stop. As naïve as it was, he absolutely had to try to convince his father not to slaughter the Hoshidans… but, of course, he would also need to convince the rulers of Hoshido to stop fighting as well, and while he trusted that Ryoma, Hinoka and Sakura still had faith in him, he was convinced that Takumi would stop at nothing to see him dead by this point, and the prince's rage was such that he might deliberately ruin whatever miraculous accord would be made.

More and more, he felt like he was walking down the path to disaster.

Upon reaching Garon, Corrin didn't pay heed to Hans, who also managed to join them, or Iago, who quickly approached the three royals. "Lady Elise, Lord Corrin, Lord Leo! I am grateful that you are safe and unharmed! Since our foes may still be in the city, you will need…"

Garon cut him off. "My children." He said. "In the coming months, you shall carve your way into history as the conquerors of Hoshido, rejoice!"

"Father!" Answered Corrin. "I understand what you mean, but… we cannot do this!" He said, causing the eyes in the room to focus on him. Iago was the first to react, pointing an accusing finger at his young rival.

"You would dare to pity our enemy after what they've done? Insanity! Lord Garon, I fear that the prince…"

Garon waved his hand, and Iago's retort died before he could complete it again. Hans chuckled in amusement at the Grand General's plight; "Enough."

He turned towards his son, to the obvious worry of his remaining children. The pressure came back on, and Corrin nearly fell to his knees, but he refused to submit so easily.

"Yes, I acknowledge that not all Hoshidans are good…but likewise, not all of them are evil! We cannot exterminate them all like this!"

Leo raised his hand, to try and stop his brother before he continued on his streak, but Garon ignored his son. "I understand your concerns, Corrin. You have Hoshidan blood, and you lived amongst them for months." He started, approaching slowly. "I was hoping, however, that seeing the devastation brought by Hoshido would change your mind. Those animals have yearned for our destruction since times immemorial, and the feud has been wounding the continent for eons."

"But we are alimenting the feud ourselves if we spread destruction! We aren't better than them if we attempt to wipe them out all the face of the Earth! And does fighting Hoshido justify Cheve's sacking? Or what's been done at Notre Sagesse? Please, father, I need to know!"

"War is not a matter of being better!" Snapped Garon, though he calmed down quickly. "Morally, at least. It is a matter of being the _winner_, and as the king and protector of this country, it is my duty to ensure that any methods that guarantee my kingdom's prosperity will be taken. Our country is in a dire state, Corrin. It had been so for more than a century." And Garon, who had fetched his axe Bölverk after the attack on him, raised the mighty weapon, causing the people around him to gasp as he raised it and pointed it at Corrin's chest. "You have seen the plight of your people. By conquering Hoshido, we'll give them a clear sky and more food than what they'll know to do with, and we'll ensure that they will not need to deal with large-scale military invasions in the future."

He lowered the weapon.

"I trusted Hoshido once. And I was betrayed for that. If you put yourself in front of people to fight the danger that threaten them, then you will only make it easier for them to betray you. Your kindness will be exploited by your so-called family, and they will use it to strike at you and those you love."

"Even then, we simply cannot wipe out a culture! We can't just try to wipe out all of Hoshi

"We have in the past, and we will again." Said Garon. "My boy, I feel like you were perhaps born at the wrong time. Your kindness is admirable, but right now, I seek a warrior, not a diplomat. And I know that there is a way to bring out your unfettered side."

Garon made another pause. "Corrin. Kill the singers in Nestra, all of them."

The prince's reply only came after a few strangled sounds. "W-what?! Father, what are you saying?!"

Surprisingly, Iago was as shocked as everyone else in the room. Even Hans's vicious smile made way for an awkward expression of surprise. Camilla, smelling disaster, approached the scene while Garon's vizier, for once, took Corrin's side in the discussion.

"Milord, Nestra is a neutral state and an ally, it is diplomatically unwise-"

"You have picked a most unwise moment to grow a spine, you sycophant! Your king nearly fell victim to a spell and yet you dare to contest an order?!"

"But the rulers-"

"King Theodore will be_ convinced_ if he has to, but the singers must die! And should you attempt to protest anymore, I'll remind you that Hoshido has managed to sneak those men past _your _security!" Garon's hand shot forward and, before anyone could even realize it, he had it around Iago's neck, effortlessly strangling the wizard. "Nohr's pride is in its power! We must be decisive in our actions! Should any threat arise, it shall be dealt with immediately, do you understand?!"

Iago barely managed to gasp a weak "Y-yes my liege! I fully do!" before Garon let go of him, breathing irregularly for the seconds that ensued.

"Fa-" But before Corrin could once again protest, Leo took over. "Father, I apologize for Corrin's actions. The perfidies done by the Hoshidans must have taken their toll on him. Allow us to deal with that!"

Garon's warm smile came right back on. "Of course, Leo. Go help Corrin with his task beforehand though. It is important that we prevent that spell from being cast again."

"Milord, the princes ought to require some aid for this." Said Hans. "And my soldiers are quite skilled at the task applied to them."

"No, Hans. This is more delicate than a mere sacking. If you find a singer, bring her to us. Should I notice that you, or someone within your degenerate little party, have refused to comply with my orders, than you shall be punished appropriately."

Hans looked bothered at Leo, and Garon shook his head. "Fear not, Hans, the coming invasion will give you and your men plenty of occasions to go wild… Obey Leo's orders." And, with that, Garon turned away. "Shame about Layla. Oh well."

"Well, boys and girl, en route for our ruthless track!" Said Camilla, almost dragging the royals out of the room and into the burnt halls, covering Corrin's mouth with her armored hand. It took both her and Leo's efforts to properly restrain him as they moved along though. Passerbys nearly asked questions, but then realized that they ought not to get involved in a Nohrian royal family matter.

"Leo! No!" Eventually said Corrin, once Leo deemed it safe. "You can't-"

"Kill the singers? Yes. I'm going to do exactly what I did back at Krakenburg."

Corrin nearly protested again but eventually fell into silence, his soft facial expression making way for surprise. Camilla and Leo proceeded to let go of him.

"I'll handle the business with the singers with Corrin, Camilla…"

"I'll make sure our dear little friend Hans respect his agreements! And as for you Elise, you… are going to make yourself a warm little chocolate in your quarters!"

"Aw!" Said Elise. "I want to help though!"

"Well, you've helped with our injured! Don't worry, we'll be joining you soon for a little talk, all four of us!"

…

The magical tree engulfed the singers, and after a few seconds, their unconscious bodies were laid on the ground, allowing a few of Leo and Corrin's men to lift their bodies to put them away in a wagon, with the purpose of getting rid of the bodies.

Both princes stood at the outskirts of Cyrkensia, near the forest. Only a few steps, and the pavement became a dirt road surrounded by trees instead of building. This would make it easier to bury the singers afterwards, but the plan was just to cart them away to safety. That said, with Nohr now occupying Cyrkensia, it was unlikely that the singers could go back to their former lives. And while Leo's insurances ran far, even the prince didn't really know what to do, beside bring them to the smaller villages and tell them to make some new lives. As far as these people go, their loved ones and former belongings were now gone.

Furthermore, their lack of knowledge over what was really going on pushed those poor souls to beg desperately as they were dragged to what they thought would be the site of their death. And the prince's façade of grim determination could only take so much before collapsing… He wondered more and more how his siblings managed to conceal their actual emotions so effectively. Perhaps he'd ask Beruka.

It was all a terribly unfair affaire, and the blue-haired young man found himself upset with Azura's decision. The only saving grace was that Leo could perform the "executions". Magic, as devastating as it was, could be channeled to "only" cause unconsciousness if properly applied, and Leo had more than enough skills for that. Of course, other wizards or Iago himself would surely realize it, but perhaps they disagreed enough with Garon's order to allow the prince to do as he please.

Or Iago was waiting for the chance to throw that small mercy right back at their face at the worst moment, Corrin's newfound pessimism told him. Apart from his army and siblings, he didn't feel like he had much allies in Nohr, though at least, the allies he had mattered immensely.

Curious, he turned towards two nearby masked soldiers, who observed the process.

"Could I ask you a question?"

"Milord, you can do so whenever you wish. There is no need to ask."

"Alright, well… what do you think about the situation with Hoshido? Do you think its people should go?"

The two soldiers stared at one another and shrugged.

"I don't really know. I've been taught that they have it easy in there. Their land offers many gifts and they see the sun all week or something. And on top of that, they're super aggressive and honor-bound apparently, so… you know, I feel like they ought to have a lesson."

"Nohrians like us had it hard growing up. We deserve that food and that sky more than those jerks."

However, the two of them shifted a bit before starting right back.

"But, ya know… maybe killing them all is a bit much. I bet some of the folks over there are nice."

"Yeah maybe, but they're all crazy and honor-bound."

While the two soldiers found themselves arguing, Leo turned towards Corrin. "Corrin. I think you're safe to go." He said. "I'll take care of the last singers, go find Azura."

"Alright, thanks Leo!"

Corrin's mind went searching for spots where he could find Azura. He doubted that the songstress would approach him in the middle of the city, so he probably didn't need to go in any deeper, and he felt that they'd probably check his apartment by now. He'd need to be alone to be approached by her perhaps, and... All of a sudden, a new idea appeared to the dragon prince, and he rushed out into the woods, to the surprise of the soldiers gathered around him.

"I'll watch over him." Said a voice, running after him. Leo frowned, but focused on finishing his work first.

…

He remembered how he met her in Hoshido. She was singing to herself somewhere in the lake Shizuka and he happened to hear her while he was out for a stroll at night. She hadn't really gotten the chance to go to many lakes in Nohr, owing to the country's… difficulties, but he remembered that Cyrkensia apparently had one relatively close to the city. If Azura was somewhere, or if she was waiting for him to be somewhere without more crowds, then… he had to go there!

"Azura!" He yelled, making his way through bushes and pushing aside branches. Night had long fallen. In front of him, there was the moon, softly illuminating his surroundings and casting the forest in a wonderful silver light. Behind him, he could still see the city lights through the leaves and trees, which would perhaps help him for the return home.

"Azura!"

How hard was it to find her? His fight with the Hoshidans showed him that he could keep tracks of a dozen people effortlessly. Azura was stealthy, but even she couldn't escape his senses, right? Corrin almost felt like he had made the wrong decision… up until a familiar song slowly made itself known, resonating through the forest.

"_You are the ocean's grey waves…"_

Corrin turned towards the direction where the sound came from, and smiled, his tired red eyes noticing the lake in the distance. Immediately, he ran off, easily avoiding trees and other obstacles in his quest for Azura.

"… _Destined to seek life beyond the shore just out of reach…"_

The young man made his way to the lake and quickly spotted Azura : The woman stood at the other side of the lake, singing to herself again. While he was glad to see her, elated joy quickly made way for confusion when a small water vortex appeared at her feet. The young woman continued her song, but equipped herself with a spear. In his surprise, he didn't notice that it looked similar to the Knight's weapon, being covered in runes and bearing an odd flame on the very tip of the blade.

He raised his hand, since Azura was too focused on the vortex to see him, but right as he prepared to open his mouth, a hand emerged out of the air to shut him up, preventing him from yelling. The second hand almost shot out of the darkness, grasping his raised arm. Before he could even begin to understand what happened, he was roughly shoved back in the bushes, hidden away from the light of the moon. Azura's song didn't change, and he didn't know if she even heard the song.

He didn't know who exactly was surprising him, but luckily for him, the figure made its intentions known real soon : The hand on his arm let go, and it didn't take even a second for his neck to feel something cold pressed against it. He attempted to reach back with his freed arm, but to his horror, the figure was swift enough to dodge his desperate blind flailing.

"There you are, prince Corrin of Nohr… di-"

The figure's finishing line, as well as the assassination it ended to carry out, died in an instant. The young man stumbled forward and, upon turning around, noticed two assassins. One was a Hoshidan ninja clad in the same attire as the others in the Opera. He had multiple wounds on his body, and most startlingly, had a knife lodged in the back of his head. The other was alive and stood over the dead ninja, and by this point, he could very easily recognize a vaguely-out-of-breath Beruka.

"B-beruka! Thanks!" He said. She intended to say something, but Corrin raised a single finger. "Wait, one thing to find out!"

He leapt out of the forest, and Beruka simply retrieved the knife she had hidden in her sleeves from the dead assassin, quickly wiping the blood away before sheathing it and running after him. By the time she caught up, he stood knees-deep in the lake, with his hands on his head.

"No! Azura, where are you? I… this doesn't make sense!"

"Calm down."

The assassin was ready to step into the water, but he emerged out of it by himself, with a conflicted look on his face. She frowned a little and observed her surroundings, just in case another assassin would attempt something desperate. Luckily, the only professional killer this side of the lake seemed to be her.

"I… yeah, I should calm down. C-can I sit down?"

"Please do."

Corrin sat down near a tree and leant against it, taking a few seconds to try and regain control of himself. Past those seconds though, the young man grew bored and put his right hand on his head once more, clearly conflicted.

Beruka knelt near him. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry, sorry. Tonight's events were just a bit shocking, you know, there's the attack, and Father's declaration, and…"

"There's no one around but us." She briefly looked around to make sure that she was telling the truth. She saw no other soldiers near her in the woods after all. "You may speak freely."

He considered her for a few moments and spoke. "Well I'm… Everything's wrong, Beruka. There's the attack on Cyrkensia by Hoshido first, and then… the singers and… Zola, too. But if you want, there's… everything that's happened recently!"

"Everything?" And in answer to that, he made a wide expanding movement with his arms. "Cheve, The Rainbow Sage, my draconic powers, Yato breaking, Takumi, the war, there's… everything! The more we progress, the less I feel like I'm getting answers, an-and not simply because I keep having obstacles thrown my way! I tried to see Father but he… he's insane, Beruka! He wants to kill all the Hoshidans, you know? Not just the soldiers, the civilians too!"

She nodded quietly.

"And I know that I should oppose it but there's Iago and Hans who are going to oppose me at every step, and… I guess I just realized that there can't be any peace between the nations!" His voice broke a little. "When was the last time I saved anyone? Death just follows me everywhere I go! The Hoshidan capital, Notre Sagesse, even Nestra!"

"You saved Macarath." She pointed out.

"Didn't really save the people I trampled as a dragon." He answered, rubbing his forehead. "I'm…I'm not worthy of that sword, and I'm not worthy of being a Nohrian prince. When Xander arrives, I'll hand over Yato, and it'll… I don't know, it'll repair in his hands and he'll know what to do."

She stayed patient, even though she feels the situation should be handled to one of his siblings at this point. "Why would Yato chose Prince Xander, mighty as he is, over you?"

"Because he… he's not like me. I'm just a weak little pacifist born in the wrong era, preaching peace when there can't be any and surviving thanks to the work of his adopted siblings… and I… I guess I won't know much about my draconic powers because the one person who knows has just vanished in a lake and my parents are gone…"

Beruka frowned slightly, and wondered just what exactly could help him at this point. Letting him wallow like this wouldn't help his case at all, but at the same time, the situation was just new to her. Before Corrin, she never had to comfort anyone.

She briefly remembered that thing in the bar, and, praying that she wouldn't do it wrong, approached the young man and wrapped her two arms around his back, putting her head on his shoulder and closing his eyes. He let out a shocked little gasp in answer and needed three seconds to properly hug her back, at which point he briefly went limp in her arms.

Minutes passed in silence, with either not making any noises. When she pulled back though, she could see him quickly wiping away at his eyes, which worried her : Had she perhaps done wrong?

"The "hug" was not supposed to make you cry."

"Oh, I'm not crying because I'm sad." He said. "I'm just… I don't know. I guess I just really needed one."

She could feel that he was still full of questions and doubts, but to her surprise, his demeanor had picked up a little.

"Thanks, Beruka. I… I probably kind of embarrassed myself, erm, sorry."

She quietly shook his head and leant forward, snatching Yato's sheath out of his belt. He stood still for a moment or two, but before he could react, she tossed the broken weapon into the lake directly. "Corrin." She started. "You are certainly dealing with complicated matters, but you shouldn't simply give up. This is what Hoshido want you to do."

She pointed at the water. "Starting now, we will both seek answers from the woman once she's back, and I will train you thoroughly in the arts of battles. We will ensure that you will no longer need to rely on your siblings to solve your problems, and you will gain the confidence to talk back to Iago." She said. "I may not be able to answer your questions, or bring an end to most of your problems, but I will help you as much as I can."

"I… Can I?"

"You absolutely can." She said. "The potential is in you. I will help you reach it. By the end, you will stand on you own two feet, and you will decide what to do. The first step to that involves recuperating that sword : If you wish to retrieve it, then jump into the lake." She said. "If you don't, we will simply let it stay there."

He hesitated briefly and dove in. Beruka, aware that the water could be dark, awaited near the water… and was surprised to see a purple light slowly emerge out of the water. After a few seconds, Corrin came right out of the water with Yato… repaired.

The sword's design was more intricate than ever, with a longer blade clad in a purple glow, bright enough to illuminate both their faces. Corrin and Beruka both stared at the legendary artifact in amazement, surprised at the sudden restoration in the blade.

"Wow, I guess there's… much that a pep talk can do!"

Beruka briefly stared at Corrin and actually allowed a small smile to appear on her face. And, for the first time, she chuckled.

"Heh."

Both failed to notice, in the distance, the mysterious Knight. The armored figure, standing at the other side of the lake, quietly stared at the two Nohrians before silently retreating back into the shadows of the forest.

…

**N/A : **Grim Yato is on!

Big chapter and, with that, I think we're near half the fic (half should be when they land on Hoshido!). Important advancement for Corrin mostly, but as you can see, Beruka and it experienced a pretty big upgrade in their bond, though even then, they're not lovers obviously.

Next chapter will have Xander and a certain character. We'll be out of Nestra soon haha!

I might up the delay between chapters now (though I plan to keep things going fast), and I've been thinking of rewriting chapter 1 a little. What do you guys think? Reviews are, of course, always warmly appreciated, don't hesitate to share them!

See ya next time!


	16. The dawn of war

With the announcement, things have managed to change drastically within Cyrkensia overnight. Gone were the night crowds and endless vapid parties : All the able-bodied adults in the cities now had the task to get as many boats ready as possible or prepare supplies for the Nohrian soldiers who were about to leave for the war, and even the children were assigned a similar tasks.

Those who were too weak or had certain limb issues were assigned with making food or helped with the propaganda, when they weren't simply moved to the side. Shops were into overdrive to make more products, and "non-necessary" buildings were refitted to offer more room for labor. The plot, according to Iago, was to take a city full of lazy partygoers and make laborers out of them, though he, of course, put it way more nicely whenever he was actually addressing the people of Cyrkensia.

Some of the buildings though had "training rooms" for soldiers to train together. And, as of right now, two specific soldiers of Nohr were occupying it, and one was swinging his fist at the other, who dodged with casual ease before grabbing the arm. Using his momentum, she easily swung him over her shoulder, tossing him all the way across the room and nearly sending him crashing back-first into the wall! However, his skills allowed him to recover mid-air, and the young man used his hands to drastically slow himself down.

He opened his mouth to comment, but then had a realization mid-fight and merely leapt forth to clash with Beruka again, attempting to hit her with a series of precise punches. Her defense was as simple as his attack, simply answering every punch with a block or even a deflection. This only pushed him into attacking even harder of course, but she counted precisely on that, allowing his attacks to seemingly push her backwards as her defense seemingly began to falter.

He continued to throw punches, and this time, she took the decision to dodge instead of simply blocking, skillfully moving her head to dodge attacks just as they were about to hit her. He briefly looked worried with each near-hit, but she only needed to stare at him once to get him to re-focus on his objective : Hit her at the very least once. And while he seemed close to accomplishing that goal, alas, she didn't intend to simply fall that easily.

Focused as he was on trying to reach her with his fists, he forgot that fighting involved more than just throwing punches. After luring him in by making him think that she was running out of options (though to her surprise, her being nearly backed into a corner wasn't entirely acting), the young woman proceeded to trip Corrin with her foot while sliding to the right, letting the prince fall on the floor face-first. More surprised than hurt, he attempted to get right back up but she simply gave him a little tap on the back of his neck with her two fingers, and he dramatically went limp.

Then, she got up and crossed her arms. "You died." She said. "You should pay attention to your footwork when fighting."

Corrin tapped the back of his head and got up, smiling awkwardly. "My defense's just full of holes, it is not?"

"Less than it used to." Answered Beruka, lifting him up. "You're getting better in a short time span, and we will have the time to finish our training during the boat ride towards Mokushu."

She let go of him, but didn't take a fighting stance this time. "We shouldn't be late to the departure, speaking of that."

"It should be in an hour, no?" Corrin tilted his head. "But I guess you're right, it wouldn't be very professional to keep our siblings waiting! And, huh, it's going to take me the better part of the hour to put on that armor." He said. With the war kicking up into the next phase, the soldiers of Nohr who participated in fierce battles were given promotions. This would make them enter specific units, different from one another. Beruka, for instance, was promoted into the Malig Knights units, wyvern riders capable of wielding magic just as well as they wielded axes. As for Corrin, he was now a Great Knight, cavaliers clad in thick armor capable of weathering any blows as long as they weren't magical.

Of course, the downside for the Great Knight was their heavy armor, but she doubted that it would even begin to slow down Corrin.

She didn't know if he himself was aware of it, but his movements were quicker and stronger and he seemed to tire less after the retrieval of Yato. Speaking of the weapon, Beruka didn't really know what to make of its reparation. Was it tied to his confidence in himself? Would it shatter again should he begin to doubt himself? At a time where Corrin was prepared to walk over his land of birth, perhaps Yato was going to be more fragile than it ever was.

So far she could see that he was taking his training seriously at the very least, and he followed her instructions owing to what to do. The parts that were somehow less satisfying were related, however, to that particular blue-haired woman, Azura.

…

The night was still fresh, and Corrin and Azura were both walking back towards Cyrkensia, having made their promise towards one another. Corrin shivered a little, perhaps because he did take a plunge in a lake at night, but otherwise there wasn't much to disturb the two young Nohrians. Then, after a little while, Corrin's ears perked up, and he turned to the left. Beruka also turned her head to where he was looking, though she had to lean slightly to the right of Corrin since otherwise, she'd just be seeing his upper body.

To her (lack of) surprise, Azura stood near the trees, glancing at Corrin with her usual enigmatic look. She did briefly manifest an emotion when she glanced at the assassin standing next to him though, before finally making a stunned expression when she noticed Yato's different handle.

"Corrin?" She asked, walking towards the duo. Beruka simply stepped in front of Corrin, unwilling to let the songstress approach him so casually after her surprise attack on King Garon. Perhaps she had no ill intention on Corrin himself, but at this point, she didn't really know, so she assumed that the woman standing in front of her was, for now, an enemy. "Stand back, Azura." Decreed Beruka, holding up her blade. Azura, having seemingly lost that spear she had before going into the lake, didn't seems rattled much by the view of the blade though. Their eyes locked into one another, and Beruka got the impression that the songstress was about to be upon her.

Luckily, Corrin raised his arm, attempting to form a barrier between the two. It seemed to work. "Stand down, let no more blood be shed today." He said. "Azura, I… would like to talk with you. About that thing at Nestra."

Azura's features grew ever softer and she nodded. "I know that I must have badly confused you, Corrin. Allow me to apologize for that." She said. "My intention at the opera was to try and purge a great evil out of King Garon."

She sat down at a nearby rock, and Corrin nodded, remaining at his spot. When he saw Azura moves her eyebrows every so slightly, perhaps hurt, he opted to sit down next to her. Beruka felt tempted to stand between them but not having that much space left forced her to stand next to Corrin instead.

"You meant, that grotesque form of his…"

"What grotesque form?" Said Beruka, glancing at the duo suspiciously. "Is something wrong with the King?"

"Y-yeah. He… on that platform above. You heard him grunt, right?" He answered. "Well, when I reached him, he was outright melting, and… and then he sent me flying with a punch by accident. You saw, right?"

And to that, Beruka nodded. "I have. And I noticed your bruise… Azura, do you know of this great evil?"

The young woman promptly explained herself. "Corrin, when you came back to Windmire to allow me to meet him, I… had a realization." Described the woman. "I fear that an evil of a sort has taken an hold of the King."

He briefly thought of the orders given until now. Garon had some valid points, but still… why burn half of Cheve when he apparently needed all those resources for the war against Hoshido? Why kill the Rainbow Sage, an immortal uninvolved in the conflict who only gave his blessings to few? Why do something as cruel as killing the singers in Nestra when such a random act of cruelty could only cause scorn towards Nohr?

Not to mention other factors…

"Father is…" Corrin glanced at Beruka. "I fear that he has allowed war to change him, but what exactly convinced him?"

"The pressure, perhaps." Said Azura. "It feels like… light is drawn into him, and with a mere gaze, he can make one forgot how to even breath. He can control it, and keep it in check, but in his presence, I can barely even stand on my two feet."

This seemed convincing for Corrin, but not Beruka. "Hmph… so King Garon's decisions and the way you feel around him caused you to go on stage and try to sing your song? Did you know about Hoshido's attack?" She said. "Why wouldn't you inform your allies? Why did you take that singer's place?"

"I went back-stage, and convinced Layla to switch with me. She had… family matters to address." Explained Azura. "I used a disguise spell on myself, and went on stage. I meant to merely test my theory on stage and purge the evil out of him."

"But why didn't you tell me?" Said Corrin, a bit hurt. "I would've helped."

"I didn't want to burden you with that mission." Answered Azura. "And I felt that this might have made you nervous when you were already wrestling with your demons. As I said, my plan was to try and extract the dark influence out of him. Should Garon remain unaffected, than I would've finished the performance before slipping away. Should he be affected though, then I would've wiped away the evil, and I would've joined up with you later."

"But you… hurt him actually, Azura." And the songstress shook her head slightly.

"Indeed. Garon isn't possessed by some evil, Corrin… He _is _the evil itself. My song damaged his body as much as it damaged the stain on his soul. I do believe that you've witnessed the King's true form."

Corrin grew silent, and Beruka took over. "You would argue that the King is some evil entity?"

"Yes." She answered. "I do not know how, but he, or some force, has turned him into a monster. The King is no longer human."

"Nonsense." Replied Beruka. "How could the King be so easily replaced or perform such a dark deed under the nose of Nohr's magicians? Perhaps you've plunged us under an illusion." And she pointed a finger at Azura. "You've ensured that those of us who would attempt to support him would perceive him as some grotesque monstrosity. Your song was meant to assassinate him."

Azura got up, and up close, Beruka could see that she stood about two feet taller than her. The princess's movements were as gracious as ever, but the wyvern rider knew that she hit a sore point perhaps.

"If I were a traitor with access to a death song, then why would only Garon be the target when plenty of important head of states were in the room?" She answered, and Beruka actually relented a little. "I understand that it is hard to trust me, Beruka, but I mean no harm against Nohr."

Beruka stepped in ever closer. "This is difficult to believe considering your recent stunt." She said. "The Hoshidans arrived right when the King was weakened and everyone else distracted. Ideal timing for an assassination." Finished Beruka, her tone calculating in spite of her accusations. Azura also approached, refusing to let the smaller woman intimidate her.

Annoyance was visible on the princess's face by now. It was slight, enough that no one else would've picked up on it, but the assassin could easily recognize it, numb as she was to emotions in particular.

"I do not work with the people of Hoshido." Denied Azura. "If I had allegiances to it, then I would've already betrayed you at Macarath, am I right? Its people have purposely chased me away. Beruka, I know that it is hard to trust me, but my intentions are not to harm Nohr. Had I known that Hoshidans were plotting an attack, I would not have went on stage."

"You are not making that exactly clear." Under another circumstance, Beruka would've tried to subdue the young woman and warn Camilla about it, but Corrin stepped in once more.

"I… I think that Azura's right." Said Corrin. "Camilla looked really troubled for some reason."

"She went to see the King shortly after you fell, yes." Answered Beruka."But what about the rest of the soldiers?"

"My song had stopped, perhaps he recovered his normal form by then." Said Azura, before walking off to lean against a tree. "I had… contingencies for afterwards, but I wasn't planning for Garon's curse to be this strong, or for the Hoshidans to attack. I'm thoroughly sorry, Corrin."

He nodded in understanding. "Yeah…" Said Corrin. "I guess you could have warned me though. I… I appreciate you not wanting to bother me, but you know you can trust me with that, right? But where were you when the fight struck?"

"I was ensuring that the singers backstage would remain fine. Once things settled, I left to attempt to warn Layla, to tell her…"

Beruka intervened. "That she's now an enemy of Nohr?" And while Azura glared this time, she quickly found her composure again, though Beruka dropped one last barb. "Her old life is ruined now."

"I… know. She hadn't left yet so I escorted her away. Then I made my way back to the lake, where I knew you'd be, and I stumbled upon you two."

Corrin's expression shifted a little but he didn't comment yet. "Garon ordered for the death of all the singers of Cyrkensia, we…" Azura gasped and put her hand on her mouth. "I…. You couldn't have predicted that he'd do this, so it's alright. But, Azura, this made me curious. How does your song works? It can seemingly do… anything. How can you use it?"

"My song is a manifestation of my draconic blood." She says. "It is a long story but being able to use that song is exclusive to us. Should we wish it, any of us could learn it."

Corrin's serious expression faltered. "I could use it?" He says, with a bit of curiosity.

"Yes, but… those verses are taught in some of the oldest books of Dreiz, and it takes years to learn them." Answered Azura, and Corrin's dreams of being a singer vanished into the ether. "And they are well-hidden, for the song's power is greater than any other weapons. The mere hum of it can rekindle the fire within someone, but the verses can also be used to create a vast barrier or cleanse a dark influence. Even I can barely tap into its full power, which is why I couldn't cure Elise on Notre Sagesse."

Corrin nodded in understanding. "So by your description, mom… I mean, queen Mikoto…"

"Could use it." Azura completed in his place. "I am below her talent though, for learning the song can take decades of hard work. And to use it often means exposure to… consequences."

"That you will certainly describe to us." Said Beruka, keeping her calm whereas Corrin almost tripped over himself.

"Azura, if this song harms you, you-"

"The basic use of it does not weaken me, and my lifeforce will not be harmed as long as I continue to use it. With your renewed Yato and the presence of your siblings, I doubt that the threats on our way will force me to use it."

"Still…" Corrin looked at her. "Are you fine?" And Azura smiled slightly in answer.

"Yes. Let us return to our siblings. I shall explain things to them once we are gathered together. I might also need to talk to you later, whenever you will be ready."

Beruka wasn't very satisfied, but at least they knew a bit more about her, and perhaps Corrin would be able to get answers out of her more easily. Thus, she didn't protest when the two royals began to head for the city, and simply began following them. However, while the answers would've perhaps been enough for the dragon prince, Beruka herself wasn't so entirely convinced.

In fact, the only thought that came to mind was…

…

"That woman inspires me little trust." Blurted the woman, and Corrin, who was done putting his armor over his simple pants and shirt, stared at her in brief shock as both began to walk out of the training room. An eager general, clad in full armor, bowed to Corrin before pushing some poor dark mage into it. The prince turned around but Beruka dragged him towards the "stables" on the roof.

"Huh, how about we get on the wyvern before we speak of that?" He said, nervously, and Beruka agreed quietly. Luckily for them, the road to her brand new dragon proved quick : Before soon, they reached the spot where Sirius's successor stood, being kept in place by a purple magical circle erected by a mage who kept guard. Other wyverns were in similar circles over the roof, unusually quiet.

She had been used to some rough behavior out of Sirius, so she was expecting her new wyvern to be just as fierce, but she was… quieter than she thought, and very obedient. This pleased the pragmatist in Beruka, who found interest in such an obedient animal, but a part of her missed having to keep Sirius in line every now and then. It kept her sharp and forced her to remain vigilant even when it was just her and the beast.

The wyvern was a little taller and wider than Sirius, but had a black color scheme and the armor on it was both black and red. Its claws were sharper and longer than its predecessor and so were its teeth. By all intents, it was a pretty intimidating animal. The wizard, upon dropping his forcefield, almost recoiled in surprise when Beruka casually approached the animal to pet it on the nose, staring at its large red eyes fearlessly. It made a low grunt in answer, and then prepared itself to fly, waiting for both retainer and prince to mount it.

Once they settled on it, the wyvern took flight, heading towards the port.

"So, erm, what do you think of her?" Asked Corrin. "I hope it's worth the anticipation."

Beruka allowed his question to go unanswered for a few seconds. "I like her." She replied. "It is a nice gift."

"I'm glad you liked it. It's… pretty impressive how you've only known each other for a day but she's already so obedient!"

"Yes, but… perhaps we should talk about Azura?" Said Beruka. "Altena will soon be at the port after all."

"Right, well, I understand you, I'm… a bit hurt that she didn't contact me." Corrin briefly let out a small "wow" upon noticing troops walking down the streets. "Sorry about the distraction! Well, I don't think she's a spy or a traitor though. Remember when we were in Macarath and Elise and I were out of it? She could've betrayed us at that moment after all, and in the chaos, slipping out would've been easy."

"Perhaps, but it is wonderfully convenient that the only cure for Lady Elise's sickness was at Macarath."

"Yeah… But, look, we'll talk about it with her altogether, right? Xander arrived late yesterday and F… Garon discussed with him all night, but right now, today, we're going to settle it. I promise."

"Just be careful. It could be a trap."

"Well, Xander's faster than lightning, and… and in spite of everything, I trust Azura." He admitted, and Beruka ever so slightly turned to look at him. "The Hoshidans back at the fort were really trying to kill her, and she has trouble with people because she had some childhood troubles growing up here, apparently."

"Hrm. Childhood troubles, you say? Quite unique here in Nohr."

"Beruka…" He answered, sounding a bit hurt. And she sighed before turning around a little. "I shall trust this woman, once. Should she fall out of line, I will be forced to advise a solution with Lady Camilla."

He smiled brightly. "That works! Thanks for being understanding!" Beruka allowed the corner of her lips to rise slightly, and arrived at the port, landing Altena near some handlers and stepping unto the docks as the unnerved soldiers began to bring an ever-so-calm Altena on board of the vessel. Like all things Nohr, it was dark and towering in size, easily being able to fit in the thousand men and women that were about to engage on a mission to seize the capital.

Nohrian efficiency ensured that the docks were somewhat quiet in spite of this. The departure was near, so most of the soldiers were on-board, to either thoroughly prepare the boat for the royals outside, check for traps or make themselves at home. Quite a few were outside though, just in case someone tried anything funny with the boat. Then again, who would dare to do so when most of Nohr's royal family was standing right outside?

Camilla was the first to notice Corrin. "Aww, making a notable entrance, my dear Corrin!"

"You're early." Said Leo, sounding almost surprised. As for Elise, she looked half-asleep, though she still cheered a little when she noticed her older "brother". Corrin chuckled and put himself in front of his family. "I have a strict training partner." The eyes of some of the most powerful people on the continent set upon Beruka, and she simply bowed, putting her hand on her chest.

"Ohoh, Beruka is quite strict indeed! She only needs to sleep for about four hours! Promise! You would do wonder waking that slugabed up!" She teased, looking at Elise. The younger princess prepared to say something, but all of a sudden, a shadow bore down upon the ground right behind Corrin, at such speed that Beruka herself failed to even realize that an attack was taking place.

Before she could react though, the blue-haired prince swiftly turned around and pulled Yato out of its sheath before swinging it at the mysterious attacker's ebony blade. Blue sparks flew out upon contact and a light shockwave emerged out of the encounter, grabbing the attention of the nearby soldiers and causing the water around them to temporarily ripple.

No further shocks happened however, for the mysterious attacker, Prince Xander himself, stood back immediately, with an impressed look on his face. Sheathing his dark blade, the mighty Siegfried, Garon's eldest son folded his arms. His younger brother also sheathed Yato, but put his hands on his hips instead.

"You reflexes have greatly improved since I last surprise attacked you, little prince!"

"I've learnt to be a little paranoid, big brother!"

Leo sighed and closed his eyes. "Tsk… About two months since we last saw each other and you attempt a sneak attack on Corrin, heh?"

"It makes me think back of the fortress!" Exclaimed Camilla, chuckling to herself in amusement. Elise also seemed to find some enjoyment out of it, giggling at the false clash between her two brothers.

"I apologize for not seeing any of you sooner." Said the prince. "My mission required me to fend off an invasion up north and then deal with stragglers or ninjas. I was getting ready to intervene at Macarath but you thankfully fended them off beforehand."

"It's alright, Xander! I'm just glad you're here. It feels like I'm about to field two armies into Hoshido."

Xander smirked slightly. "You exaggerated my power, Corrin! But I am glad to be here with you. This mission, after all, will require the attention of Nohr's finest."

"We're all in this together. Heh, I'd almost feel sorry for the Hoshidans right now."

"I've always wanted to see us four ride into battle as well… but I have a feeling that our little family isn't reunited yet." Camilla pointed behind Xander. "Ah, speak of the devil! Hello Azura!"

The songstress arrived right on time, having finished a small run to get to the royals. Laslow and Peri followed suit, having been assigned to watch over her while waiting for Xander.

"Lord Xander, it's good to see you back!"

"Hello Lord Xander! I've been super pacifistic with people who aren't enemies today! Isn't that right, Laslow?"

"It's good to see you back, and I am… glad to hear that, Peri. If you will forgive me though, I desire to speak with Lady Azura. Let our joyful reunion be delayed for a few more minutes if you'll allow me."

The agile young man looked flustered. "Milord, you need not to ask." And Peri took over briefly. "Yeah! You're the boss after all!"

Xander smiled a little and kept that smile on when he turned towards the songstress. "Azura… could it be you?"

"H-hello, Prince Xander. Apologies for interrupting your reunion, I…"

Camilla walked past her siblings and gently grabbed Azura's hand. "Interrupting? Oh no dearie, we were waiting for you to complete our crazy little group!" And, with that same gentleness, she tried to get the mysterious young woman to enter the little fraternity circle. For once, Azura wasn't in control of the situation, looking visibly nervous yet hopeful at the idea of joining her siblings.

"You remember me, prince Xander?"

"Of course, though not as much as I would have liked. There is much that I would like to talk with you later, if you please, but be assured that I am glad to have you at our side, little sister."

"And now we're united! Hoshido, here we come!" Concluded Camilla. Beruka watched the royals talk a few more time, staying alone, and she briefly wondered if all families were like that. Then, she quickly got rid of such thoughts and began to get on-board herself. There was still much to do.

…

It would certainly be drawn in the history books. Several large Nohrian warships docked at the port, each about to depart to lead the attack on Hoshido. For this momentous occasion, quite a lot of civilians and soldiers were gathered at the port, though a lot of space had been made for King Garon. All around the ships and the docks, various workers were running back and forth to ensure that the ships would depart smoothly, daring not to make the slightest mistake in the presence of the King of Nohr.

The stern king stood on a podium, accompanied by some elite soldiers and his loyal boot-licker, Iago. Hans was also present, with a look of irritation on his face. There wasn't much to pillar and murder on Nestra now, and the brutish man was only ever interested in that after all. Some wondered why he even was that high up in the Nohrian hierarchy, since his interests (and, some critics argued, skills) were that of a common troop, but no one dared to contest the King's orders.

As for Iago, he looked smug as always. Unlike Hans, he didn't seem particularly eager in entering enemy territory.

"You all carry the hope of your nations, soldiers of Western Dreiz. The hope of ending this pitiful rivalry that has tormented Dreiz for so long, and also the hope that this continent will finally be united. Let this coalition rule the continent to steer it into a brighter future, and let the people of Nohr enjoy the sun that has been inaccessible to them for so long!" He started. "I will lead the operations from here, but in due time, I shall reach Hoshido as well, and contribute to the final push on the capital! Do not falter and storm this pathetic land with the same fervor that alimented your ancestors when they _crushed _Qliphoth! Go!"

With that, howling ensued, and the boats were sent into the horizon. The soldiers and royals inside all thought of the challenge ahead of them, but not a single regretful stare was thrown the way of Cyrkensia. The glory of conquest was on some minds, the promise of freeing their fellow from the blight was on others, but Nohr was a nation of warriors in the end, and none were about to back away from that particular fight. Some had also some very specific thoughts, but we'll get to them later.

Right now though, a speed had ended to make way for one another. Religiously, the soldiers of Nohr headed towards the main deck, where Xander stood, along with the rest of the royal family. Everyone could notice, close to him, one of the famous King's Shadow, though no one dared to approach it. The soldiers, instead, were busy conversing to one another to know more about the men and women trusted to watch their backs.

"So, where are ya from?" Asked a Sorcerer behind Beruka to a large man, clad in the outfit of a berserker. "Well." Answered the axe-wielding brute. "I'm from Macarath, so I want to make those bastards pay for what they did to my town, you?"

"I want to see the sun." And the Sorcerer quickly stammered when his fellow raised a dubious eyebrow. "Not kidding! Nohr's hard to live in. I'm planning on settling in Hoshido when this blows over."

"You could've settled somewhere else, right?"

"Settling somewhere else is fleeing, and a true Nohrian doesn't run away from home that easily. Beside, the land will be Nohrian once this is over, so _technically, _I'll still be in Nohr when this is over."

The Berserker wished to say some more, but Xander deemed that enough people gathered. Stepping forth, he saluted his soldiers before speaking. "Soldiers of Nohr." He said, observing his troops. Indeed, while Garon preached an alliance, this particular ship was made out of Nohrians only. Others were more mixed, but this particular embarkation was supposed to spearhead the invasion in particular, since Nohr was the coalition's leader for now.

No sight of the soldiers of Berlum, Encroix, Gorje or the others small nations along Western Dreiz.

"Brother and Sisters of Nohr. I shall quickly announce our objective, but allow me to thank you for choosing to accompany us in this journey. It is with utmost honor that I will lead you into battle." He declared. "This will be a difficult conflict against a mighty foe, but we people of the dusk country _welcome _such hardship! And let those hard-fought battles be told for the centuries to come!"

The Nohrians soldiers yelled proudly and raised their arms high above their head, with some exceptions, like Beruka (though she did the gesture) and some others. Odin more than compensated for their absence with a cry so mighty that the clouds above would've parted if he held it for perhaps a second longer. The rest of the army glanced at him in confusion or awe briefly.

"We shall land at Mokushu. Hoshido has been attacking their trade routes with Nohr." Said Xander. "And have increased their aggression within the past months. Nohr has sent some rat catchers already, but our arrival will help to repel the threat. Once that is done, we will make our way across Izumo and go further north to the Eternal Stairway. We will need to take both Fort Jinya and the Wall of Suzanoh to reach the Capital."

He waited for the soldiers to absorb the information. Those structures were ancient, having been built when Hoshido was merely a province, but they both held up to attacks by rival provinces and were described as some of the toughest structures in the continent to overcome.

"The royal family of Hoshido will also contribute to the defense, but we will be there to battle them. That is all. We shall reach Mokushu in three days! Train and rest, for once we arrive, we will soon need to get to work. For glory."

"For glory!"

The Nohrian army scattered, and Corrin briefly contemplated the King's Shadow before turning towards Xander.

"That was a nice speech." He complimented. "I'm going to go train in preparation."

"And I am glad to hear that. But before we do so, Corrin, would you mind if we took a few minutes of your time? We may need to talk about something."

The prince looked slightly confused but agreed quickly, and the Royals quickly left the deck to go deeper into the ship, being followed closely by a set of guards and the King's Shadow. Beruka moved to try and follow them, but Camilla waged her finger at her.

"No no! Go make friends Beruka, princess's orders!"

Corrin was tempted to wave her off, but decided to preserve her pride by nodding at her with a hopeful smile, though he briefly spoke.

"Don't forget about what we said!"

Whether or not she'd do it though, he wouldn't know for now : The royals quickly reached a large room and entered it, allowing a few guards in front of it to stand guard. The young prince contemplated his new surroundings. It had a small window, giving a view to the sea outside, a large table, some seats… pretty large but relatively simple, which pleased him in a way since he never had much fondness for anything too overly elaborate. He sat down with the others.

"Corrin." Started Xander. "As you know, Father has… plans for the people of Hoshido."

The younger prince's face grew sour a little. "But we won't let him do that, right? We are at war, but that does not justify wiping out an entire culture."

"Right." Said Leo. "We're here to talk about that. We do not plan on going through with it." Declared the young prince.

"Recently, Father has been… giving out some gruesome orders." Said Camilla. "And surrounding himself with less-than-savory individuals. We love him, of course, but it's undeniable that something has happened to him."

Xander followed suit. "Father has done much for Nohr. In his youth, he defeated Qliphoth and led our country after the betrayal of Hoshido. My consideration for him is enormous, but we simply cannot decimate an entire culture."

Corrin gained a hopeful look on his face. "Phew… But, what about the other countries? We can't just walk out of the deal, right? And how will you take over the throne?"

Camilla sighed. "That's where it gets complicated… Father promised lands in Hoshido for our allies. While it is a large country, it will be hard to offer up the lands evenly to the other countries in the coalition while having some of our own. Our idea was to have Hoshido's influence be limited to the Wall of Suzanoh, we'll acquire a large chunk of the land close to Mokushu, for better trades, and we'll handle the rest of the split."

"As for the people of Hoshido, they will perhaps need to live together with the settlers and immigrants of other countries." Said Leo. "This will be… problematic, of course, and we will need to watch the populations to prevent tragedies. As for the matter of wiping them out, we've conversed with the leaders of the other squads before departure. Like us, they do not think that wiping out an entire culture is right. I shall announce to our soldiers that non-combatants will be spared, though we may need to ensure that they won't take up arms."

Corrin sighed in relief, putting his hand on his chest. Elise gave him a brief pat to the back.

"But what about Father?"

"I've discussed this with him. I've tried to budge him on the matter of the deaths of civilians, but he's refused… However, he's agreed about retiring. He plans to end his reign on a high-note, by conquering Hoshido and doing what his predecessors couldn't do ever since the beginning of our shared history. He'll pass the crown to me, and he'll head back to a villa." Said Xander. "I should be able to get away with sparing the civilians as long as I insist that the order came from me. Let a different Nohr led the continent."

"Whoah, amazing! You're about to become the King!" Corrin almost clapped his brother on the back but relented, feeling that he should be more proper. "You're more than wise and strong enough to earn the crown if you ask me!"

"You'll be able to steer our country into a bright future." Reassured Leo. "Though I hope that you'll accept my aid in dealing with the future troubles ahead of us."

Camilla looked more forlorn in comparison. "You're going to be so busy!" She said. "I hope that we'll be able to reunite like the good old times."

"King Xander!" Elise clapped her hands together. "That sounds cool!"

Azura briefly spoke. "Congratulations."

"Thank you, and obviously, I will need your aid Leo." Declared Xander, smiling curtly. "After all, I fear that the coming renovation of Nohr will be a tumultuous one."

"Why?" Asked Corrin.

"Well… there will be a need for reforms, and we will need to remove some elements of the hierarchy." Said Leo. "This is why it is better that we wait for Hoshido to be defeated first, and why I would honestly have preferred for the succession to happen at a quieter time. But I fear that our father has grown… weary of the crown."

Corrin coughed. "Erm, about Father…"

Xander tilted his head. "Is there something that you need to tell us, Corrin?" He briefly glanced at Camilla, who was slowly losing the smile she had on her face. He prepared to speak, but before he could do so, he felt Azura's hand on his shoulder, mouthing a soft "no". Obviously this only made Xander more worried, but Corrin quickly improvised a solution.

"…. Why is he like that? Burning down half of Cheve, hiring those despicable men…"

"Father has had a hard life. This doesn't justify his orders though, but he isn't doing this out of cruelty." He assured. "Perhaps Iago is influencing him. Or perhaps his grudge against Hoshido is forcing him to do this. Either way, rest assured that we will do our best to prevent atrocities from taking place, and he shall step down on his own once we win."

He briefly remembered Garon's monstrous form. Was it actually a lie? Was Azura tricking them? Camilla's solemn face at the opera meant that she saw something, perhaps he should talk with her and Azura later?

"On lighter news." Said Xander. "I saw that your Yato has evolved."

Corrin smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I feel hardier when I'm using it." He tapped the sword's handle with his left hand. "Say, Xander, do you know anything about Yato? The Sage…" He briefly paused. "… The sage built it and you saw him, right?"

"Ah, the Sage. I've heard that you went to him." Said Xander. "I only know that it can apparently evolve when wielded by a hero. I wonder how well it will do against my Siegfried." He said, his joking tone barely hiding the interest in his voice.

"Or my Brynhildr." Answered Leo. Corrin would've shrunk in his seat, even if he knew that his brothers were simply kidding, but spending some time with Beruka taught him to act in a bolder fashion, and he answered with a daring smirk. "We could find out, brothers."

Camilla sighed and leant back on her seat, folding her arms. "Boys…" Elise observed her and did the same. "Boys… did I do it right Azura?"

"Yes."

…

Beruka wandered around the ship at a rapid pace in a hunched stance, putting her hands behind her back and observing her surroundings. The retainer quietly slipped past crowds of soldiers, not paying any heed to them once she was out of their ways.

"So, how do I get scars?" Said a young soldier, talking to a warrior with a set of impressive scars on his bare torso. "For the ladies."

"Heh, if ya cover up the wounds, the docs can't fix it." Answered the soldier. "Can't heal what they can't see, something like that."

The other soldier gawked. "I wasn't aware of that."

"Well, not many soldiers are going to hide their wounds when there's a healer around." Said the veteran. "Though, ya know, some wounds can't be fully closed if the healer isn't skilled enough. That's why I still have those."

"Oh, so I need to be badly wounded?"

"That's how scars work, bud."

Beruka walked past them, just in time to feel an arm wrap around her shoulders. Her hand instinctively sprung towards her weapon before she realized that it was just Selena. The assassin simply grabbed her arm before moving it away, not really feeling like both women were friendly enough to get so casual with each other at this point. She was getting off pretty well by this point, considering that nearly anyone else would've ended up with a broken arm by that point.

"Hey, Beruka!"

"Selena." She replied flatly. "What brings you here?"

"Well, as you know." Selena crossed her arms. "Our little exploration of Cyrkensia went all awry! So I was seeking you out to propose some hanging-out next time instead!"

"We are at war."

"Yeah, but… I bet we won't be fighting all day." Said Selena, getting in Beruka's path with a smooth slide. "Isn't Izumo a pacifistic country? We could hang out there." The redhead tilted her head. "Hey, I've got an idea too. If we hang out, we could talk!"

"… I have no use for small-talk."

"Well, I could give you some tidbits about myself!"

The hired killer stopped herself from simply walking past her fellow retainer and glanced upwards with a look of curiosity on her face.

"Come on?" Said Selena, with a sheepish smile on her face. Beruka sighed and nodded. "Yes, we shall visit whatever town we stop by."

"Nice." Retorted the redhead, pleased with the situation. "If we wish, we could even do something like… a duel. To see which one of us is stronger!"

"A spar." Corrected Beruka. "I see no point in fighting to see which one of us is stronger. Unless Lady Camilla told me to." And she realized that this would very much be in-character for the princess. "If you wish to fight, the Hoshidans will be happy to provide."

"Aw come on. You don't like small-talk but you won't accept training as well?" Selena began to follow Beruka, folding her arms and walking just behind the smaller woman. "You're a complicated battle buddy, Beruka."

"Training is fine." She retorted. "But I will not battle for the sake of your pride."

Camilla's retainers eventually both went deeper into the ship, eventually reaching a large room where most of the soldiers had gathered. A quick glance around the room revealed several of her fellow retainers, as well as quite a few new faces. Most of the soldiers were currently hovering around one of them : A man with long black and white-hair and, most shockingly, two furry animal ears and a tail protruding out of a small hole in his black pants.

Other than that, he looked human, and was even sharply-dressed compared to the various Nohrians stationed there. While some soldiers seemed to be simply surprised at his animal appearance, most seemed to be pondering on the presence of a Wolfskin within them. After all, they mostly kept to themselves within their mountains, and apart from a "treaty" that allowed Nohrian soldiers to cross the mount if they needed to, they had little ties to Nohr.

Apart from their longevity, and a level of strength and speed superior to humans, the Wolfskins were known for their ability to assume a more monstrous form using a particular stone called Beaststone (the Nohrians of old had little imagination when it came to naming things). The sights of transformed Wolfskins early on in Nohr's life gave rise to the myth of the werewolf, a man with the ability to become a wolf at the full moon. Rumors to this day said that the bite of a transformed Wolfskin would gift a human the ability to assume such a form, but as a few eagers volunteers discovered, the results of being bitten by one were definitely much more mundane than that.

Peri was currently talking to the man, looking fascinated in him.

"Soooo Keaton! I wanna ask! Do you eat people?"

"Keaton", as he was named, glanced at his surroundings briefly before shrugging, seemingly not fazed with her question.

"Not all that often. Only when they try to pick a fight on the mount."

"How does it taste?"

"Like chicken." He replied, casually. "You're pretty weird to ask it like that though."

"Oh, I'm a noble! So people told me that I'm not "weird", I'm just eccentric!"

"Huh-huh."

Selena and Beruka avoided Keaton, not wishing to be near Peri. While Selena was seemingly looking for friends, the assassin's search was much more complicated, since she was looking for the elusive Kaze.

The ninja's absence at the opera was a most interesting… coincidence, and while he was quick to defend himself afterwards, she wasn't entirely convinced. She had ceased to look for him at the moment, but now that they were on a ship, with occasions for sabotage being plentiful, she wished to keep an eye on him. Perhaps she could ask Nyx to put a hex on him? The old witch was quite elusive, like Kaze, but Beruka trusted that her skills would eventually find her.

Instead of a ninja or a witch though, the person who emerged out of the crowd was a blonde. Beruka would've stopped on her own, but Selena placed her hand on her shoulder regardless. Charlotte seemed ignorant of them so far though, being busy fending off a bunch of suitors who seemingly weren't very up to par with her standards.

"Hey." She proposed, a bit serious. "Charlotte's pretty hurt about what you said at the bar."

"That was my intention."

"Yeah but… geez. You know, it'd be pretty polite to apologize, ya know?"

Beruka considered telling her off, but then remembered Corrin's parting words for now and, sighing, approached Charlotte. The blonde's amiable façade nearly dropped upon sighting the assassin, but she quickly proceeded with her approach before Charlotte could say anything.

"I wish to apologize for my insult at the bar." Said Beruka, quickly and without much enthusiasm. Selena and Charlotte both froze in surprise before the blonde, to everyone's surprise, threw herself Beruka's way, almost lifting her off her feet in a warm hug. The assassin considered slamming her against the wooden floor in retaliation, and then remembered that this was discourteous.

"Awww don't worry Beruka! I'm just so glad to hear about this! Let's put this aside and be besties for now!" And, while he said this, Charlotte moved her mouth close to Beruka's left ear. "I'm fine with the apology but you absolutely owe me something, got it? I'll get you back when I get an idea. And you're not backing off."

The assassin freed herself and attempted to deliver the following line with as much emotion as possible, her face remaining blank. "Yes, I am glad to be your amongst your friends Charlotte. My joy cannot be contained. In fact, I must absolutely depart from the premise before I explode out of joy and cover this room in gore. Thank you."

And, with that, the assassin was off, with Selena barely following her. Once she was out, the bandana-wearing woman sighed.

"Well, it wasn't so complicated, right?" Said Selena.

"Applying one more ounce of pressure would've perhaps resulted in broken bones." Retorted Beruka. "It also seems that she thinks I owe her something."

"Really?" Selena looked back at the closed door. "Yeah, make sense… look, if she's- when she gets unreasonable, I'll help ya, got it?"

"I don't need help." Said Beruka. And before they could continue, the two women turned their heads to notice that Odin was heading for them at a fast pace, running almost as fast as the lightning he could command forth with his tomes. He finally stopped by sliding forward with his knees, at such speed that it was a miracle that the friction didn't accidentally light the ship on fire. Also a miracle that his knees were still in one piece.

"Ah, the red maiden and the blue bringer of death! I beseech your help, for a most great terror prey upon this ship, and should something not be done, then Nohr will be weeping for its lost childr-"

"In normal people talk, Odin." Said Selena.

"Well, pirates might be on this fine ship! And it'll require all our might to fend them off, for surely anyone this bold must be quite powerful!"

"Pirates?"

Beruka looked at Selena, and moved her hand towards her weapon.

"This won't be something worth altering the royals over."

…

**N/A : **Shura's chapter is coming! Will our brave outlaw tag along with our heroes or will Beruka get herself some fine boots in the coming chapter? Your pick!

I did a pretty big change to the lore here, with the song. I think the song's powers including the barrier creation explains why they can't just easily replicate Mikoto's feat, unless it's on a very small scale (as seen in Notre Sagesse). Azura isn't strong enough to replicate the feat, which is why she was chased (since she can't learn to replicate Mikoto's power before Nohr is upon them). It also means that if he wanted to, Corrin could learn the song. He probably won't by the end of the fic though haha.

New wyvern, new reference to another Fire Emblem character! And this one's also a wyvern rider!

Some big changes with Garon and the family too! Will he really just step down here? Well, we all know he won't, but hey, more intrigue!

What did you think of the chapter? Reviews are much welcome! I plan on changing the schedule with posting, but maybe by five days. Three days is pretty tight after all!

See ya soon guys!


	17. The arrival in Mokushu

The idea that pirates would sneak into a boat occupied by perhaps the most dangerous people on the continent (perhaps even the world) was entertained by some of the soldiers on the ship certainly, but Beruka herself never thought that they would be so eager to move out during the day. She had anticipated an operation that would take place at night, but it appears that something had managed to force the hands of the lawless scum of the sea.

Selena and Beruka ran ahead of quite a few other troops, reaching the treasury where the Nohrian gold was kept. It stood at the back of the ship, and was guarded by two imposing black doors, whose impressive size and appearance didn't stop the pirates from opening them ever so slightly to try to sneak in. Behind the doors stood a wooden hall with about six doors, with a room containing part of the treasure for each. The door at the end of the hall had a wider part than most, which was perhaps the reason why the pirates decided to loot it. However, the way back was blocked by quite a lot of soldiers, and the room itself had no other exits.

Beruka and Selena made their way to the room, wondering what sort of phenomenon could so easily stalemate a group of soldiers on their way to bring a country to its knees. Upon reaching the room though, they could easily see why.

The "pirates" inside were small in numbers, barely six of them. They were all dressed in proper Nohrian uniform, hinting that they probably got on the boat by conscripting. One of them, the youngest one going by his youthful face, was holding a crackling Fire tome above his head, pointing at the army. The rest of the pirates seemed to be looking at him, contemplating on what to do next. Only one of them seemed to be keeping his calm, though even then, some sweat was rolling down his face.

The numerous chests in the room were untouched for now. They truly botched it apparently. It probably didn't help that the room itself was wide enough for an entire army to fit in, and the chest themselves were so heavy that even Effie would consider them decent for her work-out challenges… which meant that lifting them was beyond the ability of most people.

"Put that down, kid." He said. "This won't help."

"Stay back!" He warned. "If I see even one of you take just one more step, I'm going to drag you all down with me, you hear?! B-back off!"

The soldiers perhaps couldn't hope to stop the pirates in time, since it looked like the young pirate was quite ready to live up to his threat, but Camilla's retainers were quicker than the average individual. Selena nodded at Beruka and, in a flash, both women crossed the distance separating them from the Fire-wielding pirate. Beruka smashed him in the face with a powerful punch and Selena leapt in the air to grab the Fire tome, though her gloves barely protected her from the heat.

Looking down, the young boy's left hand had some nasty burns on it. Was burning his own hand preferable to facing Nohrians in his eyes? Beruka didn't really have the time (or the desire) to care about it, because one of the pirates right next to her decided to try to hit her with a clumsy punch, out of desperation perhaps. Before he could do so though, the other soldiers managed to burst into the room and quickly began cutting down the pirates as Selena landed close to a dark mage, holding up the book to her.

She put on a casual smile. "Care to secure that?"

"Of course, milady!" Replied the mage, using her magic to quickly take care of the book. While her back was turned around, and while most of the room was busy attacking the pirates, Selena shook her hand and quickly blew on it, though her cocky grin slipped back unto her face by the time the Dark Mage turned to look at her.

Meanwhile, in the room itself, the situation was quickly coming under control. Only one pirate was even alive at the moment, and he wasn't really fighting, with most soldiers being quite eager to stick him in a corner, slowly surrounding him while perhaps deciding on how best to kill him. His helmet fell off, revealing that he had rather… towering hair, and his hair was white apart from a black mark on the middle. He seemed rather worried, holding his hands up with a nervous smile.

"Hey, buddy." He said. "Shouldn't we be talking?"

"Ah!" Gloated a Nohrian soldier with a blood-stained sword. "Shouldn't you be DYING?!"

The man swung his sword horizontally, but instead of hitting the pirate, he made a most dramatic miss, since the outlaw made a acrobatic jump to dodge the blade before promptly attacking with a swift kick, sending the man flying into the crowd. Boorish yelling ensued, but before he could be stopped, the man threw a smoke bomb right at the ground, blinding the nearest soldiers and causing them to stumble around. A few knives attempted to hit the spot where he was standing, but the man had already performed a most dramatic leap to reach the nearest wall, newly-acquired sword in hand. His sudden bout of agility surprised most of the people in the room, and thus, he easily made his second leap towards the entrance door.

Beruka prepared to intercept him, but the shifting mob prevented her from gaining the focus and time to accurately jump to intercept him, and to her deception, Selena herself was gawking at the sudden agility of the pirate, only reacting when he landed right next to her before promptly leaping backward. A few soldiers in the halls swung their weapons but the man avoided them with effortless ease. What he planned to do by leaping around, she didn't know, but even Beruka had to admit that he was quite well trained.

In fact, his movements reminded her of those done by Hoshidan shinobis, but even more skilled. The assassin didn't doubt that she'd catch him though, and with great swiftness herself, the blue-haired woman began a chase that was… promptly cut before it could begin, when a familiar figure stepped in front of the escaping pirate. And she very easily recognized Corrin, his "Grim Yato" in hand. The pirate also seemingly recognized him, stopping in his course and locking eyes with the prince.

"What is the matter here?" Asked the young man. "Who are you?"

The fleeing man chuckled bitterly. "Just my luck." He said. "I guess I should've anticipated this but I didn't except for you to be that fast."

Corrin pointed his sword. "Answer my question, and you shall be spared?"

The pirate turned to look at the army at his back and smiled mirthlessly. "Well, sorry, but your buddies didn't exactly spare mine!" And, concluding his brief interaction, he leapt forth, attempting to get past the prince. Beruka ran, guessing that the chase was on again, but fate proved her wrong again when Corrin easily moved in front of the individual, at such speed that he might've been a blur for the gathered members of his army, and easily struck him down in the stomach with the pommel.

The agile outlaw barely managed to gasp a "Gah…" before he began to fall backward, defeated in one blow. However, the prince mercifully grabbed him by the arm to prevent him from falling… and also to seemingly prevent any dirty tricks from being pulled. Corrin's guess proved wrong though, for the shinobi that he struck down was unconscious yet entirely unresponsive. By all accounts, he was defeated.

A guard ran close to Corrin. "My liege, apologies, he got past us!" And, after a short while, more guards found themselves accompanying him, all surrounding Corrin to marvel at the feat of speed he just demonstrated. The young man looked a little intimidated, but calmed down slightly when Beruka walked up to him, bloody axe in hand. She locked eyes with him before nodding down, and he answered to that by shaking his head, to her surprise.

"He is dangerous… my liege." Argued Beruka, forgetting that she casually addressed him as Corrin otherwise and almost slapping herself for almost doing so in public. "We should end him."

"He's quite different from the average outlaw, I feel like killing him would be a mistake." Answers Corrin. "We should try to get some answers out of him later and then we'll see."

Camilla and Azura reached the treasury and, soon after, so did Xander and Leo. Needless to say, the man was doomed from the start with his dim-witted attempt. Beruka frowned, wondering just what exactly would drive a seemingly skilled pirate to make such a momentous mistake.

"We've intercepted the thieves." Said Corrin. "This one is disabled, and the others are…" He took a glanced at Beruka's bloody axe. "Dead." He concluded. He looked regretful, but not as much as he would've done before. The assassin was getting to him apparently, which was good. The more the war ramped up, the less useful his reluctance with killing would be… Not that she was yearning for him to murder indiscriminately, like a certain bald captain. She just wanted him to be able to use lethal force when he needed to.

"Pirates on this ship?" Leo looked down at the unconscious man. "Not very wise of them. There's probably not much use to keeping him alive but I trust your advice, brother."

"Should he escape again though, we may need to be harsher in our sentence." Said Xander. "It pains me to hand off our problems to another, but we may need to put him in a Mokushujin prison."

The unconscious man was put in chains and dragged out of the spot in time. The rest of the ship eventually scattered, though Corrin's effortless defeat of the outlaw sparked some conversation. A lot of the soldiers on the ship were new to the army after all (and thus didn't know the extent of Corrin's strength), and also didn't really get to see a royal fight up-close, even for a second. The prince himself was currently talking to Kaze, though Beruka didn't see fit to willingly join a conversation yet, especially when she could simply ask either of them about it later.

She simply began to clean her axe, and walked away.

…

The ship was progressing under the night of the moon. Somewhere in the distance, the warriors could see the lights of Notre Noblesse from afar. It would've been smart to perhaps put the pirate in there, but Xander had to say no. They were required to reach Hoshido as soon as possible to begin a large invasion altogether, and while a ship of lesser importance could've made a docking before quickly attempting to catch up, the royals spearheaded the invasion, and it wouldn't be very proper for them to be slower than the other ships.

The excitation over the pirate's arrival had dimmed for now, and wariness settled in. In the minds of the soldiers, more pirates could be on board, plotting. Leo, not one to leave things to chance, grabbed the records concerning the soldiers aboard and scrubbed the ship, looking for a soldier that'd be out of place or getting somewhere where they shouldn't be. As a result, things were stricter on-board, not that Beruka minded. She rather enjoyed the calm, especially since the soldiers spent the first hours being quite chatty.

The bodies had been disposed of by giving them away to the fishes. The surviving outlaw was in a cell deep within the ship, and was being watched over by soldiers constantly. Beruka had proposed to watch over him, since she could deal with an attempted evasion, but Camilla apparently thought that it'd be better for her to hang out and train with her fellow retainers or dine with them, apparently.

The "dining hall" of the ship was filled with soldiers and various tables of varying sizes were scattered over it. In the middle of the room, the largest table had the Nohrian royals eating together. All around them, various Nohrian soldiers dined, chatting together. They would perhaps talk louder, or even fight, if it weren't for the presence of Xander, whose mere presence proved to be a powerful deterrent against usual Nohrian rowdiness.

The soldiers sat with whoever they wanted. This meant that Beruka had a relatively empty time, having only herself, Kaze and Selena. At times, some of their fellows made effort to approach, but then ended up getting cold feet, or simply disdained to eat with an Hoshidan. Some even seemed to think that Kaze's presence was the reason why the food was checked for poison before being served. A couple of them even glared at him from their table, to the ninja's seeming obliviousness. Their glares found their match when Selena immediately stared back though, and Nohr's servants quickly went back to their meal. The redhead glared daggers into them before eventually going back to her own fairly modest meal.

Beruka's own ration was pretty small, and she took small bits out of it. By contrast, even Kaze, who had perhaps been trained to thrive on a half-empty stomach, managed to acquire himself a wider portion. He wasn't finishing it though, simply observing the room. The assassin didn't bother questioning him on this, but Selena chose to do so.

"So, Kaze." Said Selena. "I gotta ask, isn't it… weird for you? You're going to roll in and invade your former country." She waved her hand and tried to come up with a description. "You're still looking pretty zen."

The ninja raised one eyebrow and smirked slightly, slowly chewing and politely swallowing his food before talking. "If I were to express doubt now, surely miss Beruka would stab me right now." He said, and they both eyed her. She didn't bother to dignify their goading with anything else than a vague grunt. Selena smirked a little, as if dismissing it as a joke, but both the silent killers at the table knew better than that. "But, well… I was ready for such a scenario as soon as I made my offer to Lord Corrin, at Notre Sagesse."

Selena tilted her head, seemingly not satisfied with the answer. "But you've got friends and family right? Not-not trying to guilt trip you there, but…" The redhead found herself struggling to end her sentence. "You know."

"This is my decision." Said Kaze. "To be honest, as a ninja, we aren't really trained to have "friends", anyway, and I only have one family member alive right now." He didn't lose the calm smile, but some melancholy briefly appeared in his eyes. "I've made peace with the fact that my brother may need to be taken down, and it may need to be done by my hand. I can assure you, Lady Selena and Lady Beruka, that my blade shall not be swayed however."

The part about the training of a shinobi interested Beruka. She had only heard rumors so far. Myths, done to intimidate the population into thinking that ninjas are inhuman monsters that one needs to put down without any remorse once beaten, else they strike again. And she admittedly had the smallest interest in figuring out just how exactly they were trained.

"Well, you do you, but you're so serene, it's pretty weird." Said Selena. "It's a bit like Lady Camilla, ya know?"

"I… guess." Said Kaze, not quite catching the comparison. "But I know that Lord Corrin will not destroy Hoshido. My former nation will survive, though perhaps it will do so in a weakened form."

"… Alright, so, switching topics, whaddya think of Nohr so far?"

"It is." He took a moment to pause, and perhaps find a way to describe Nohr's landscape. A lot of words could be used to refer to something negative after all. "A country that has suffered."

"Well gee, color me surprised." Said Selena. "I guess you didn't really get to see much of it anyway."

"I cannot blame you for that." He said. "A Hoshidan walking amongst Nohrians is most unusual, is it not?"

"Yah, how did you get away with that part?"

"I pretend to be a Mokushujin. Their alliance with Nohr is known, and I can imitate the accent and mannerism well enough." He replied. "Speaking of them, I may need to hide again, if you do not mind. I am… well-known in Mokushu, and my presence amongst the troops may cause complications."

"Heh, take it up with Lord Corrin, can't do much to help… How are you going to hide though? Ohhh, I know."

"The world inside the crystal ball should provide me with the means to hide. Good deduction." Kaze had a brief look of recognition. "Oh, say, Lady Beruka is probably one of the few amongst us who has yet to see it yet."

"Good idea! There's interesting stuff!" Selena got a teasing smile. "The kind of stuff that would surprise even you, Beruka!"

"… Where you in that "world" at Cyrkensia, Kaze?" Replied Beruka, concluding her meal and staring at the ninja dead on. Selena didn't bother getting mad at her line being brushed off. She knew that her comment was doomed anyway. Either Beruka would dismiss it quickly or she'd grunt or she'd simply let silence settle in. Kaze, meanwhile, didn't look annoyed.

"I was getting familiar with the city. I couldn't really show myself to the high-ranking members of Nohr, couldn't I? I was scheduled to be executed in front of King Garon before I was rescued."

Beruka barely budged. "And then the Hoshidans showed up." She basically accused. "Strange."

"And here I was thinking that you would trust me by now." He replied, sadly shaking his head. "But nonetheless, remember that a spell binds me from taking arms against those of Nohr, and know that I wasn't aware of the plan to attack Garon directly." He leant forward, putting his elbows on the table. "The mastermind behind the attack was not affiliated with our army, for they judged him too… extremist in his actions."

"Easy to say." Replied Beruka. "Hoshidans were close to Nestra via Cheve."

"Takumi's army couldn't field so many soldiers after the damage done to it." Said Kaze. "Kumagera chose to strike Nestra because he knew that the King would be there, but Hoshido didn't consider Cyrkensia to be worth attacking. It is too far away, was uninvolved in the conflict until now and it would be a waste of manpower to subdue it when our attention was turned towards overwhelming Nohr." He raised a finger. "We did send men to Notre Sagesse, but because the Sage was in there."

He leant back. "I didn't see the signs, and I apologize for that. But I can guarantee my innocence relating to Kumagera's attack."

Beruka and Kaze stared at one another before Beruka eventually decided to continue the conversation later, simply getting up from her table. "I am… satisfied for the moment. I shall now feed Altena."

"Alten-ohhh, right. It's a pretty cute name for a wyvern!" Teased the redhead. "And you found it quickly, rumors says!"

Beruka grunted and simply headed out of the dining room. Kaze sighed warily as Selena turned towards him.

"So, are you good with Kimonos?"

…

Beruka was not the only one to leave the dining halls. One minute after her departure, Corrin emerged out of the room, carrying a plate of food and some glass of water with him. He had excused his absence, explaining that he wished to consult his maps to properly assess how much time it would take before arriving, and his royal siblings chose to accept his departure, aware that the occasion to dine together would certainly come up many more times in the future.

Still, as the cold breeze of the night caressed his pale skin, the young man felt almost bad for lying to them. He intended to strategize further, yes, but first, he intended to visit a certain person. And since the food could get cold quickly, he couldn't ponder any further on the guilt he felt. Swiftly, Corrin headed towards the brig. It was located right below the stables but the prince knew better than to get lost. Every now and then, he encountered roaming soldiers, who were either on their way to eat or simply guarding the ship.

"Sir." They said, and each time he smiled at them with a nod and a "Hello" before getting to the brig, quickly descending down the stairs. He reached a small room lit by some candles, where two bored guards stood. One of them yawned loudly before seeing Corrin's arrival, prompting him to unceremoniously interrupt himself to salute. His fellow took about three seconds to notice his sudden reaction, and about five to realize just why.

"Did you eat?" Asked Corrin, walking past them. And the soldier on the right, who looked quite thin, shook his head as a negative. This prompted the prince to nod outside. "Don't worry about it, go get yourself something to eat then, your shift should end."

"But, milord, what will happen if the fiend attacks you?" Spoke the concerned soldier.

Corrin smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. I've beaten him, haven't I?" And that seemed to be enough to convince the soldiers, who eagerly left. The prince then went down the stairs, seeing a row of cells in front of him, with only one being properly lit. The cells were wide enough for a man to comfortably walk around in, since each were meant to hold more than one lost pirate, who could be found at the end of the hall, observing the night-sky out of the small window in his cell.

The man turned around upon hearing Corrin and looked at him warily at first, before smirking slightly when he noticed the food. "A prince of Nohr is my waiter, I see."

The prince sighed and just reached the door of the cell, opening the lid and sneaking the plate through it. The man took a hold of it and looked down at the food in interest. Corrin took it as a small victory – He deliberately picked a simpler meal (some chicken, a salad, tomatoes and even some cheese) just in case the pirate would reject it. He then handed the glass and, once the prisoner settled his meal on the ground, the young man pulled some cutlery out of a pocket in his armor. He grabbed the very tip of the silverware before passing them through the bars, ensuring that the outlaw wouldn't try to grab his hands just in case. The man seemed to notice this, but he didn't comment on it until after he had it in hands.

His mouth formed a wry grin. "Cautious, yet naïve, heh?" He said. Corrin leaned back on the bars of an empty cell, arms folded, trying his best to look imposing in front of the pirate.

"Naïve? I don't think so." Said Corrin. In answer, the man raised the cutlery before digging in the meal.

"Got myself some sharp tools." He said, before he began to eat. The prince allowed the slightest hesitation to cloud his mind, but then he pondered : How would Beruka act in this situation? Well, she'd probably just shut down every attempt at a debate, and would be a lot more careful, but he was sure that she'd have shot back "I'll be taking those away once you're done."

The outlaw raised an eyebrow but seemed to agree to that. His presence here was enough of a proof that the prince's words weren't merely empty threats. He began to eat and drink rather enthusiastically, happily biting into the meat. It took until the salad was done for him to realize that he probably wouldn't have a second ration, and he began to get more conservative as a result. All the while, Corrin pondered on when to speak, and occasionally observed the brig. A lantern was placed to illuminate it but otherwise, the room was pretty dark and quiet, though the prince could hear the stomping of nearby excited soldiers, or the splashing water outside.

"… I'm sorry about your friends." He said, resolving to break the silence. "The men and women under my command reacted as they wont to do, so I won't shame them for killing, but I still want to apologize." Corrin expected an answer as soon as he ended his phrase, but silence greeted him. The young man's red eyes laid upon the target of his little apology, who was sitting in front of his plate, cross-legged, observing the prince while chewing on his meat. Thinking that he perhaps hadn't been heard, as inane as it sounded, the blue-haired young man moved to speak up but his interlocutor placed his fingers in front of lips in silence, in such a bold manner that the man stumbled on his words for about three seconds before he managed to stammer out a "Wait, why are you…"

The brig's sole inhabitant so far swallowed. "I don't talk while eating. It's impolite." He kept a serious face through his dialogue. "I'm an outlaw, but that doesn't mean that I'm a savage." Having explained himself, he moved forward. "And I don't give a shit about those guys." This caused Corrin to get a bit closer, in indignation. "Well, that's how outlaws rolls, especially in Nohr. If death is a bother, then you're going to be an empty shell by the third day, assuming you're lucky."

He began to drink and allowed Corrin to recompose himself. "But, still, those were your teammates, you… you can't just dismiss them that easily!"

"You do eventually." He replied. "I gave those guys a good chance to start anew and avoid the authorities by slipping away in Bunkatsu, but they got greedy."

"Then, why would you follow them?" Asked Corrin. In his heart, he hoped that the man was lying and actually meant to save his friends, but his answer was quick and betrayed no hesitation or remorse. "Those idiots could've gotten us killed with that Fire tome they smuggled in." He explained. "Barely had one more use to it before it cracked. That spells disaster on such a ship. And I didn't trust the idiots here to deal with it in time. But those dames proved me wrong."

"Dames… oh, Selena and Beruka." Corrin hanged back. "Well, still, even if they were foolish, I don't think dead people should be dismissed easily."

"Heh, honoring the dead is bullshit. Not like they care at this point." He took the time to eat some more. "But it's odd that a Nohrian prince would say that, what's with your wizards and their experimentation on dead folks."

The prince frowned. "I do not condone or contribute to such practices, and I'd ban them if I could!" He said. "Those are not things that a kingdom should be doing!" His outburst got the outlaw to actually tilt his head a little.

"…Aren't you Prince Corrin?" He said. Corrin nodded in answer to this.

"Well, I'm… fairly easy to recognize." Said the prince, half-mindedly pointing at his pointed ears.

"You're taller in the drawings."

"T… they exaggerate stuff! Anyway, yes, I'm Prince Corrin of Nohr, and I shall not allow my homeland to be mocked." He folded his arms and frowned, but while the outlaw recoiled, perhaps remembering his painful defeat, he looked a bit more amused. "And what's your name?"

"Name's Shura." He said. "I'm glad that it took a rising legend to knock the wind out of me, I guess."

"L-living legend?" Answered Corrin, flustered. He recomposed himself quickly enough. "Well, I haven't done much."

"We both know that you're just being falsely modest, come on." Argued Shura. "But I'm surprised that you even bothered to spare and feed me. You're a lot more ruthless apparently." He did briefly glance down at his mostly-finished meal, as if wondering if it had been poisoned;

"This is mere propaganda. I… have shed blood upon Cheve, and I regret it, but the culprit of its destruction is Hans. I shall fight to the bitter ends to protect those I love and my country, but I will never slaughter helpless citizens or beaten enemies. It's too inhuman."

"Good mindset to have when you're settling out to sack an entire country, huh."

"D-don't mock me." Said Corrin, attempting to put authority in his voice. "Man is… no, we are all meant to be better than this. We're not meant to just tear each other apart endlessly. I believe that Hoshido and Nohr together could do great things, and I refuse to just wipe out an entire culture. I've been called many things recently." He scratched the back of his head. "But "destroyer" will not be one of those, I want to ensure that."

"Hrm-hrm, nice speech." Shura folded his arms. "You're going to give it to the high prince too? And King Garon? He had a pretty nice one, too, but his was a bit more decisive."

"No, I'll… I'll figure it out. But no countries will be destroyed under my watch." Said Corrin. "And my siblings are in agreement with me about this."

"You've got a problem with people who destroys countries?" Said Shura, concluding whatever was left of his meal beforehand. Corrin nodded quickly, and the outlaw gave him a bitter laugh. "Well, I'm looking forward to your encounter with Kotaro and the fine people of Mokushu."

"Huh? Why?" Asked the young prince. His interlocutor looked around, as if spying for some hidden enemy, and turned a sly eye towards the young man.

"I'll tell you more about it… maybe. Long as you give me a nice meal. Or ask your Hoshidan friend." Replied Shura. He turned around and began to lay on a small bed, turning away from Corrin. "Anyway, I think I'm done. You'll give my compliments to the chef, waiter."

Yato's owner was speechless. He could force Shura to give his answers perhaps, but that'd be… thuggish. The fact that he even considered the idea for a second was enough to get him to turn around to leave. However, before he could do that, the young man turned around and held his hands up.

"Wait. Shura?"

"Hrm?"

"The waiter isn't supposed to be leaving empty-handed, right?"

"… Clever little guy."

…

Once he was out of the room, Corrin was barely surprised to see Camilla and Azura both waiting for him. Azura was her usual stoic self, but Nohr's warrior princess had a sly smile on her face and was leaning against the wall with her arms folded, her eyes quickly setting on Corrin's empty plate. This prompted the royal to look down at it and sheepishly raise his head, an apologetic grin forming on his face.

"Oh oh." Camilla laughed. "Looks like someone had dinner in the brig."

"W-well, yes, someone did but it's because-"

"Was Beruka down there?" She asked, teasingly. Corrin blushed and denied rather quickly, prompting the princess to laugh harder. "Oh, I am only kidding, my dear Corrin! No needs to panic!"

"I… I was just giving some food to the prisoner below. I don't think he's fed much, so I brought him some. I know, it's, erm."

"Awww, so nice of you to do that!" Camilla pinched his cheek. "I'll keep it a secret! But admittedly, I was hoping that you'd get to dine alone with Beruka. You two have been hanging out together for a while now, didn't you?" Her visible eye winked at him, and Corrin felt like sinking through the boat.

"Well, she's… she's strong." He admitted. "She always manage to make things look effortless, I kind of envy that." Camilla nodded wisely. Corrin pondered on adding that this is part of what interested him in a woman, her strength, be it physical or of character (though he'd like both), but then realized that this was perhaps a private matter. Above him, he heard some footsteps, and awkwardly realized that a soldier may have been hearing this. "I-I'll tell you more, but I think there's an elephant in the room."

"Oh, that…" Camilla gestured, and the duo quickly followed her, departing from the deck to her quarter. On the way, she took what he held and handed it to a soldier, prompting a nervous Corrin to awkwardly offer a quick excuse. Azura was as silent as ever, and waited until they were in Camilla's rather lavish apartment before speaking up.

"As you have surely seen, King Garon has seemingly underwent a most unsettling transformation."

Camilla frowned and sat down, observing Azura suspiciously. "I… have." She said. "I reached father and he was a… thing… He reformed quickly afterwards though, before the soldiers could arrive. He explained it away as a curse of a sort."

The princess stared right at Azura. "And perhaps it is? I don't know much about your song, my dear, and I struggle to think that it could have been anything more than a illusion. I would require you to explain yourself in due time."

"My song has much power, but it cannot curse." Answered Azura, calm in spite of the pressure on her. "Lady Camilla, I am aware that what I am saying must sound insane, but King Garon hasn't been himself lately. I think that this is no open secret for… everyone on Dreiz." She gripped her staff. "His cruel orders, his grey skin, the way he surrounds himself with scum like Iago or Hans…"

"I am aware of those but this… I apologize, Azura, but this is an harsh truth to accept." Camilla slumped in her seat a little, and the songstress approached to put her hand on her shoulder. Corrin, not really knowing what to do, did the same but for her other shoulder. This seemed effective in cheering her up, if only a little.

"I am aware, and I apologize, Lady Camilla." She said. "But… what could have happened to him? Is he under a curse? Is this Iago's doing?"

"No. It… seems stronger than any regular curse. It taints his soul and his body. It is a spell, but I fear that is it mysterious and foreign."

"And how shall we heal him?"

Silence.

"… It appears that doing so, at this point, is impossible. My song harmed him when it was meant to do the very opposite." She said. "By that point, it would appear that removing the force would mean killing him."

Camilla went silent and did absolutely nothing for a while. She briefly held up her finger as if to speak, but then went silent once more and started to ponder. After a little while, she got up and went to admire a small painting above her luxury bed. It depicted her as a toddler (though she already had her famous bang over her eye) being held by her father. He already looked much more imposing and broad-shouldered, but the smile on his face held genuine affection, and he held Camilla close to him, as if trying to reassure her.

"Camilla, I understand that this is hard to cope with." Said Corrin, approaching his adoptive sister. "I… I wish I could provide some words of advice but I don't think I can. "

The princess's answer came in through some sobs. "J-just… stay close to me, will you?" And Corrin nodded. Remembering how he had been calmed at the lake, the young man spread his arms and attempted to hug Camilla, causing her to temporarily stop. Then, after a while, she returned it before backing off, finally showing her face to her two siblings. It was a bit reddened, perhaps because of the tears.

"What will we do then?"

"We… we will see with Elise, Xander and Leo. I don't know if they will trust us." Affirmed Azura. "But it is capital that they learn of this in time. I do not think that Garon is telling the truth about stepping off the throne following his conquest."

"Then, will we need to fight him?" She said, with a dreary tone.

Corrin's thoughts raced. Was Garon going to try to ambush the wounded royals, exhausted from their fight, with his army? It was a possibility. But then, what could they do? They would be needed to spearhead the invasion, and while they could set up a siege, they just couldn't fight their own King in front of their armies. The confusion would make it easy for Hoshido to strike, and while Garon's death could reveal his true nature, the world as a whole could easily dismiss them as a bunch of remorseless kingslayers, willing to demonize their own father (harsh as he was) to gain access to the throne at a time when Nohr was poised to become the dominant country on Dreiz.

Of course, that assumed that they could defeat Garon. In Nohrian hierarchy, strength was important, and the King was the strongest of all as a result.

They'd need to convince their family and soldiers, somehow… hm…

"Hey!" Said Corrin. "Maybe we could consult Izana of Izumo?"

"The arch-duke?" Said Camilla. "Wh-… oohhhh."

Azura's eyes widened slightly. "You wish to reveal the truth by speaking to Izana?"

"Yes, the spirits speak through him, don't they? We could ask him to reveal father's true nature to Xander and Leo. Maybe even our soldiers!"

"Hm… that could work." Said Azura. "Assuming that we get an audience. But is Izumo within our path?"

"Yes. We're supposed to regroup here with people from other ships."

Gathering so many soldiers of an aggressive nation within one's capital was foolish of the people of Izumo, but they had a particular way to ensure that no single Nohrian soldier would be getting out of line.

"That'd be effective… I doubt that we will be able to convince our soldiers of his true nature." Offered Camilla. "He doesn't exactly make wide-spread fortune telling apparently."

"At least we could get them to discover the truth… We'd still need something to reveal him to the others, though. If we could reveal his monstrous nature to the army, they wouldn't doubt us, right?"

"Right… well, my dears, I suggest we discuss this later. I have some things to dwell on, and… maybe I'll think up a way to just convince the others. The spirit of the night will certainly bring counsel after all!"

"Right." Said Corrin. "See you later!"

Both he and Azura left the room and closed the door… and Corrin found himself faced by the chill yet again. He didn't mind the cold too much, though he hoped it wouldn't affect Azura.

"I'm going to ponder on how to convince Izana to show the truth to the others." Said Corrin. "Good night Azura!"

"Hm… good night Corrin." She answered, observing the ocean lit up by the moonlight. The prince awkwardly stuck around, wondering if he could say something else, but opted not to and simply headed back to his cabin.

…

Unfortunately, Shura apparently didn't find the subsequent meals up to his refined tastes or he simply felt like messing with Corrin. By the time of the young man's arrival to Mokushu, he only knew that the outlaw was active through Western Dreiz, but the reason behind his presence on the ship were unknown. By the time he walked out of the brig, he actually found himself a little _frustrated, _scratching the back of his head in annoyance.

Felicia simply took the plate and held unto it with both hands. She had been lucky in not dropping them so far and intended to carry on with that string of successes. "You… you sound upset, Corrin. Oh, sorry, lord…"

"Don't worry about the lord part." Said Corrin. "You know, I could take care of the plate stuff myself. You shouldn't need to wait outside for me."

"W-well, Corrin, I'm a maid." And Felicia pointed at something behind Corrin. "And you're a prince who should be ready to land!"

The young man turned around and gasped. Behind him, the boat was heading right for the coast of Mokushu. Many soldiers had gathered at the tip of the ship, to better contemplate the land in front of them. Their interest was well-earned, since Mokushu looked beautiful even from afar. A mountain towered over a large port town, itself surrounded by a lush forest. Plenty of ships were leaving or entering the port, though it looked like a special place had been made for the Nohrian one.

The prince left to get himself ready, adjusting his short haircut. Upon reaching his cabin, he quickly put him his armor and then proceeded to stare at the mirror, taking various poses that would make him seen as mature. He has heard that Kotaro, the leader of Mokushu, was quite the war veteran, so he wanted to hopefully not make a fool of himself in front of him. The young man, after a little while, folded his arms, imitated Beruka's glare, and nodded at his mirror… before dropping his stance, sighing exhaustedly.

"Hm… I'm bad at this whole serious thing!"

"On the contrary, sir, you looked quite intense."

Corrin yelped and wheeled around to spot Kaze, leaning on the door. The ninja smiled slightly at his lord's lack of composure. "I wish to warn you that I will be hiding away using the sphere. We… may not see each other for some days."

"Oh, yeah, I understand." Answered Corrin, adjusting his collar for the umpteenth time. "Lilith will hold you company and I could check in if you want."

Kaze raised his hand. "Don't worry about me. You already have much to do in this world. We shall be seeing one another soon… farewell, milord."

Corrin nodded. "Farewell, Kaze!"

The ninja departed and Corrin closed the door with his feet. He'd miss the ninja, even if it was a matter of mere days. Briefly, the prince contemplated just what Kaze could have done to be apparently this infamous, but then he realized that he'd just ask him later… and, perhaps, a part of him could already guess why.

…

Kotaro had placed several ninjas around the wooden docks, to look formal, but also a row of cheering citizens, though they stood on the beach below instead. The various soldiers of Nohr, however, were more interested in the land itself. They had already noticed the clear water (to the point where they could see the various fishes swimming below their ship and the sand below), but the golden sand of the beach, the luscious forest below and the clear sky above also seemed to almost entrance the soldiers.

It made sense. Many of them grew up in a harsh condition and rarely ever saw the sun. The sight of such a beautiful country would fill anyone with wonder, even if they happened to be tough warriors. Beruka, for instance, stopped for about one second, though unlike the others, she was quick to shrug it off and continued to fly off the ship with the other wyvern riders (with the notable exception of Camilla), to reach some open-air stables built close to the town itself, where handlers were supposed to take care of the beasts for the short amount of time that they were going to spend here.

She felt that it was perfect for a trap, they were cut off from the others after all, but once that was done, the wyvern riders were simply led into the city.

As for Corrin, he was walking with his family in front of the entire army to meet up with Lord Kotaro himself. Mokushu's, _daimyo_. He wore a black and brown suit of ninja armor, though the middle part of his chest was exposed. Most notably, he had fearsome sharp spikes all over his armor on the arms, which seemingly weren't cause of concern for the masked ninjas who stood next to him.

He was an older man, and his long brown hair was tied in a ponytail. He had a beard and what people described as a smug look on his face. Corrin didn't know if he had actual evil intentions or simply happened to have an evil-smile on, but a less charitable person would definitely describe him as someone with a punchable face. It was an odd thought, considering that he was supposed to talk with the man. And wishing to punch someone usually made interactions like these difficult.

"Welcome, princes and princesses of Nohr, to Mokushu." He said, bowing down. The two ninjas next to him did the same thing. Both reminded him of the King's Shadow : They were covered in a black suit of armor, and had red masks to hide their faces. "I am Kotaro, Daimyo of Mokushu and your ally in this battle against Hoshido."

"Thank you for your hospitality, Lord Kotaro!" Said Corrin. "I am honored to be working with you."

"And I am even more honored with assisting Nohr in the war." Said the ninja. "But while I appreciate the back-and-forth politeness, I am aware that we have more pressing matters to attend to. Please, follow me."

The royal family quickly followed and, while Kotaro was busy, Corrin turned towards Xander, as if silently waiting for his approval. Xander smiled with approval, but then ever so slightly nudged his head forward, and the youngest prince got his head back into the game. He and a good deal of the soldiers who weren't busy with unloading the ship, walked amongst the Mokushujin streets.

The buildings looked like a cross of Hoshidan and Nohrian architectures. They looked like the former, but were built rigidly like the latter, and some houses were built directly into the trees themselves. Some were even built on top of one another expertly, though Corrin couldn't help but be a little worried. The roads were paved Nohrian-style, and children could be seen running outside, or staring curiously at the soldiers. A few vendors were out as well, causing quite a few hungry Nohrians to remember their location for later.

Most startlingly though, Corrin could see a few burnt houses nearby, being surrounded by what appeared to be Mokushujin diviners. They were clad in black, unlike their Hoshidan counterparts, and they all wore face-concealing gears, be it a mask, some cloth over their face or even a veil of a sort. Kotaro must've noticed the prince's shock, for he spoke with haste, waving his arms dramatically (though he made sure not to accidentally slaughter a companion).

"Hoshidan attacks, milord. Those fiends have been attacking us for years… We've been hoping to fend them off with your aid. As you can see, they prioritize the civilians over the warriors. But in other parts of this humble province, the raids are even worse. And our soldiers, while competent, are lesser in number."

"How vile!" Exclaimed. Corrin, who briefly wondered if Kaze himself took part in those raids. "I pledge my support in getting rid of them."

"I am pleased to hear this, my liege. I wish for nothing less than the safety of my people in this time of war."

Leo frowned, but didn't comment on what was happening as the group reached two black buildings. _Those _were notoriously more Nohrian in architecture, to the amazement of several soldiers. Kotaro smiled and pointed at the structures.

"Your soldiers will reside here. I do hope that they'll appreciate the attempt at making them confortable."

"They certainly will." Said Xander. He gestured as well, and the soldiers began to enter the buildings to settle in, though a few stood at the entrance to greet the wyvern riders. Corrin hoped to stay behind but before they could do so, Kotaro brought the royals (and only them) to his palace. It was a large wooden building, bearing the emblem of Mokushu : A sun, with three sharp curved points to it, akin to a shuriken. Upon entering, the royals could see that it was quite busy, with a lot of mere workers and soldiers alike pullulating all over the floor.

"This is my humble abode." Joked Kotaro, deemed himself successful enough when Elise giggled. "However, what will truly interest you stand below it. Follow me."

Kotaro walked down a wooden hall and opened a door, leading to some black stairs that went deep into a black cavern of a sort. Corrin briefly considered the idea of a trap (Beruka had gotten to him), but the presence of his siblings reassured him enough.

"Do not be intimidated by these caverns." Said Kotaro, as they began to walk them down. "This is where my throne sits, but this is also where I keep interesting prisoners."

"O-oh, speaking of prisoners…" Said Corrin. "We've captured someone with great skills on the boat. He moves like a ninja, in fact…"

"Ah, yes, the man in chains." Said Kotaro. "You suspect him to be an Hoshidan? Then we thank you for waiting this far, for we will be quite pleased to interrogate him… If you haven't done so already, of course."

"I only gleaned that he's not for Hoshido. Well, at least, I don't know what he'd do all the way in Nohr…"

"We shall find out." Said Kotaro. "Our men will know to bring him here, and I expect that he will enjoy the company that awaits him down there."

"The company?" Asked Camilla. And Kotaro, once they went down the stairs, simply walked down a few rocky halls before reaching a room. While passing by, Corrin could see quite a lot of wooden cells within the room, though most were empty. The last one, though, had a few soldiers occupying it, weapons in hand. And the wooden cell itself had an inhabitant. To Corrin's shock, it made the brig look positively agreeable : The wooden cell was barely big enough for someone to budge around with, and the prisoner within it had very little space to walk around in.

He could recognize her, for he saw her perhaps some weeks ago by now.

The woman in the cell was Kagero. Ryoma's retainer and one of the deadliest women on all of Dreiz, according to the high-prince himself. She wasn't active for now though, opting to simply meditate in her cell. She didn't move one muscle as people entered the room, or as Kotaro placed his fist on the bars themselves.

"She's been the mastermind behind a lot of the raids." He said. "We're lucky we caught her while she was heading back from that disastrous raid on Macarath… that you fended off, of course."

Corrin merely focused on the woman. Whatever little food she had would be disgusting for a fly, and the water in her little cup gleaned with an odd color. Those… those weren't proper conditions, even for an enemy.

"If she get the informations out of her and that man on the ship, then perhaps the invasion will be made easier." Said Kotaro.

He wished he could say that he was pleased, or attempt to ignore it all, but something in Corrin awakened, and before he knew…

"Kotaro, we need to talk."

…

**N/A : **Oh no, will Corrin kind of screw over his alliance with Mokushu? Guess you'll know it in five days, hehe!

The boat trip took longer than I thought, but the next chapters should have more action as a result. I can also promise that the next chapters will focus much more on Beruka, since Corrin has been getting the spotlight for a little while now!

Now that they're there, I feel like it's safe to say the fic is halfway done. It depends, though, since I may take more than one chapter per "level" in the game so to say (Izumo, for instance).

Anyway, hope you liked this chapter! Don't forget to drop reviews, they're always appreciative and I just love getting them!

See ya!


	18. Attack on Mokushu

Stupid. Stupid. He knew that he was risking pretty big on this, and he also knew that he was doing all this for the sake of an enemy who would be either insulted at the pity being thrown her way or wouldn't even care about it. But somewhere, it felt cynical to simply see such things without doing anything to stop them, as if silently approving of them.

"Yes, milord?" Asked Kotaro, smiling smugly, or perhaps amiably. He leaned against the cage, seemingly not worried at the idea that Kagero could use this to try to attack him. The woman, though, didn't actually move at all, simply meditating without budging the slightest muscle. It was almost eerie in a way : His enhanced senses could barely pick up her breathing, and her expression was as unreadable as Beruka's.

"Those are obviously inhuman conditions." He said. "She can barely move around and the food and water that she's given is…"

"I can assure you that we are simply taking our precautions. This woman is an elite soldier." He said, jerking his thumb backwards. "Giving her the slightest tool could facilitate her evasion, and it is in our best interest that we keep her in. She will feed us informations about Hoshido, and may be a useful bargaining chip… Or bait, more likely."

"Bait?"

"The Hoshidans will surely attempt to get her back, and this will make it easy to lure them into a trap." Explained Kotaro. "They shall fall against our combined might, and this will make the invasion easier for you."

"And what about… her?"

"We'll execute her." Said Kotaro. "Once she has exhausted her usefulness, that is."

His siblings observed him. Corrin disagreed quite strongly with the idea of so casually using a soldier as a bait to lure their friends into a trap… But could he speak up against that? He had been told by Beruka to analyze the situation and avoid reacting too quickly. The idea looked good at the moment, but hindsight made him realize just how truly painful it was to witness such a trick and be unable to intervene to stop it. His silence attracted Kotaro's attention, and the older shinobi folded his arms.

"It is war, milord." He spoke, dropping some of the politeness. "Such measures are expected when such a conflict occurs. A Nohrian prince should not have any problems with this."

Corrin pondered on his answer, though he noticed that Xander was about to take charge. Somewhere, the young man feared that his hesitation would embarrass Nohr, and decided to step up to dispel the situation himself.

"I apologize, Kotaro. You are right to do this. I wish to apologize for overstepping my bounds." He said, trying to hide just how much he regretted each word "I hope that your strategy will allow us to end the raids over the province."

"I am glad that you managed to acknowledge my point, Lord Corrin. You do have the cunning expected of a Nohrian royal."

"We shall prepare our troops swiftly and send the rat catchers to begin a sweep of the area. May our alliance be ever-lasting, Lord Kotaro."

"May our alliance be ever-lasting, Lord Xander." Kotaro bowed, but also shook the prince's hand. This seemed to be confusing enough for the gathered Nohrians, but Corrin kept his mouth shut for the moment. Once that was done, Garon's children moved out of the room, and the group walked back out of the cave. On the way though, Corrin noticed Shura being brought down to the cells, unable to escape thanks to a couple of chains placed upon him. The outlaw's smirk was a grim one, and he was quite unfazed by the spears pointed at him in case he tried anything funny.

"Now you're more of a Nohrian prince, heh?" He said to Corrin while passing by. The youth didn't answer, but he kept one red eye on where exactly they were taking Shura. The outlaw wasn't the nicest man, but the idea that another person would be sent down there, in these conditions, infuriated him outright. But he remembered Beruka's lessons, and kept his cool. He forged his mask as an emotionless prince, and kept it on through the return to where the Nohrian royals would be sleeping.

…

The top of the buildings had rooms for the royal family, and smaller ones for their retainers. The Mokushujin did their best to emulate the Nohrian aesthetic, by bringing in various portraits of steel-eyed rulers clad in intimidating suits of black armor and carefully putting them all over the fireplace. No matter where he looked, Corrin could see one of Garon's ancestors glaring down at him, in a way, this was oddly symbolic.

A bunch of old books were present on nearby shelves. Corrin didn't touch them, fearing that even looking at them for too long would cause them to crumble into dust, but Leo was in the midst of reading them. The young prince didn't mind. He wished he could ask his brother to hand him whatever he was reading (he was curious about the world after all) but as usual nowadays, his worries about the war quelled whatever interest he could gather for his surroundings.

He simply observed his younger brother. The prince came into the room to try and pick up some books, explaining that he found his lecture quite lacking, but both princes knew better than that. As of now, Corrin was making sure, through his senses, that no one was spying on them.

A part of him was getting just a little sick of all those ninjas spying on him from the shadows, undetected.

"Leo." He said, pulling on his collar. "I'm, huh, sorry about my outburst at Kotaro." Began the prince. The blond awaited a little and closed his book, turning to face his comrade-in-arms.

"I understand where you're coming from, Corrin." Answered the wizard. "I do not quite agree with the idea that people should be used as bait myself. It's quite… degrading."

He made a brief pause, and Yato's wielder knew what he'd say next.

"However… even with our premises to change Nohr, we cannot trample on the strategy of our others unless they happen to be blatantly suicidal. Kotaro's plan combined with the efficiency of our wizards could take some pressure off them. We've promised to support them after all." Leo took a moment to pause. "And Mokushu has been giving us resources for years. We owe them a debt."

"I know, I probably should've kept that in mind."

"You did. You kept your cool when you realized that you were upsetting him and you did so without our interventions." Said Leo, a bit more encouragingly. "You didn't make things more difficult for us, little brother."

"Hm… thanks, Leo." Said Corrin. "So, what are we going to do next?"

"They'll try to interrogate the woman tonight, though I've heard that she resisted all previous attempts. Tomorrow, perhaps, our army will move out to begin clearing the Hoshidan ninjas." Said the young man. "Then, Kotaro will get "cocky", and leak informations about executing the woman." He shifted in his seat awkwardly, and Corrin looked away "curiously" to hide his frown. "She'll be moved out of town beforehand, so that it may not take the full brunt of an attack."

"And if they do not take the bait?"

"… Kotaro will execute her. I've heard that the woman's loss is of strategic importance. Rumors say that she was hand-picked by the prince to assist her, and she's quite strong as a result. Hoshido will certainly not let her die."

"G-go on, please."

"Right. The wagon that will transport her will contain a dummy. Kagero will be executed tomorrow should she fail to give up any information. This'll ensure that the Hoshidans won't actually be able to save her."

"I… I see." Corrin felt a bit of nausea but hid it. "It's a pretty pragmatic move, I'd say."

Corrin went unto his bed and folded his arms while leaning his head on a pillow, observing the ceiling.

"Why do the people of Mokushu hate Hoshido so much, and vice-versa?"

"Mokushu was a former colony. It declared independence after being exploited for years, shortly after the first Qliphoth invasion, and then courted Nohr, Hoshido's rival nation." Said Leo. "They've escaped an invasion so far because of craftiness. Its neighbor country's army is overwhelmingly stronger but taking over Mokushu would be a waste of resources and would take a lot of time because of their traps and ninjas. They're content with the occasional raid though."

"I see." Said Corrin. "Weren't there other colonies too?"

Leo nodded. "Those books would perhaps inform you more than I can. Anyway… I'm hearing Odin's babbling. I'll have to intercept him before he make a mockery of himself in front of our allies." Brynhildr's wielder got up, looked over at his brother and then laid his hand on his shoulder. "If you have any doubts, we're here for you, alright?"

Corrin couldn't help but feel a bit coddled, but he hid away his doubts by simply smiling. "Alright, thanks, Leo."

…

_The end of the provincial wars had Hoshido emerge as triumphant. Thanks to their discipline, powerful legendary weapons and determined army, only a few provinces remained by the time Queen Makoto declared that Hoshido would no longer expand this territory, explaining that enough blood had been shed. As a result, Mokushu, Kohga, Tsujin and Ikkomori were left._

_However, her successors elected to keep an eye on them and kept them as colonies. They were not meant to be part of Hoshido, but they would still serve it. Aware that their combined powers would still fall short of Hoshido, the colonies accepted its rule. Many rebellions rose and fell in the centuries. The country of the dawn used the colonies to train its famed ninjas, and while It built roads and raised cities, quite a few thought that the colonies were just a loophole to conquer the provinces while respecting the rules set by Queen Makoto._

_But it would take the invasion of Qliphoth, which forced most of Hoshido's army to assist Nohr, to allow them to break free, though they naturally waited until the end of the war to band together and announce their independence._

_Hoshido's combined army, weakened by the war, opted not to confront the liberators directly and made a deal : They would not launch invasions on the provinces and they would still trade with them. The provinces, upon breaking free, kept a loose alliance to ward off future invasions. And for a few decades, all seemed well. However, soon enough, the provinces decided that they had too little space, and set out to earn more of it. Not having the means to fight Hoshido, Mokushu and Kohga made a pact and took over both Tsujin and Ikkomori. Hoshido, while it made efforts to save waywards citizens of both provinces, didn't intervene._

_More years passed and both nations became reputed as mercenary countries, sending their famous ninjas on missions through the continent and earning the favors of other nations. Hoshido kept its eye on them, and gathered more troops near their borders, but Kohga struck at Mokushu, intending to remove what had become its rival. The, young Daimyô, Kotaro, led a devastating counter-attack and took over Kohga. Its citizens and ninjas scattered across the continent, and thus, the matter of the provinces was settled once and for all._

_Nohr, which had become known for hiring a lot of ninjas, formed an alliance with the country. And this proved to be too much for Hoshido. Exploiting a loophole, the sly politicians of Hoshido sent ninjas to lead raids over the country. They would not invade them outright, but nothing in the deal could forbid them from doing so, after all. Mokushu, unable to fight back, now has to fend off these raids and hope that Hoshido will not further ignore its own pacts._

Corrin put the book away and scratched the top of his head. The book had been simple enough, but he understood the conflict somewhat better. Getting up, he stretched and wondered on what he could do.

Now that they feasted together, his siblings were busy. The retainers and soldiers were partying outside ("no alcohol", warned Leo), and Corrin decided to take some time off to focus on reading, or training, or whatever he could try to do to keep his mind off what he witnessed. Could he really accept what had happened? It was obvious that he should, but he still found himself refusing to just do that. Mokushu seemed to be very much like Nohr : Power-hungry, and quite willing to do a lot of things to achieve its ambition.

And he could sympathize with Nohr. A blight had been set on it after all. And he could somewhat understand Mokushu, since it had apparently merely fought back, but with all that resentment they had against Hoshido… what guaranteed that they wouldn't try to attack its citizens after Nohr was done carving a path forward? And could he take the time to stop them since Xander would likely tell him that they couldn't afford to hang back at this time of war?

Corrin went up to a window, opened it, and glanced at the town below. Its myriads lights, its streets, the tiny people navigating these very streets, the black ocean crashing against the beach, illuminated by the moon above… He wanted to admire this sight, and maybe even go down in the city himself, but he felt unable to admire the world in front of him. In many ways, it was as beautiful as it was described to him as a child. The wicked landscape outside of the fortress had nothing on the beauty of Nestra's cities, and he had already bore witness to the splendid sights of castle Shirasagi, amongst many other famous locations.

But yet, a tiny voice inside of him whispered to him. It told him that those dazzling sights were far less reflective of the real world than he thought. The burnt down Cheve or the sacked Macarath came up just as often as his more beautiful memories. And _those _sights were the ones that reflected the world as it actually was. The world that he kept going deeper and deeper into as that war kept going… but alas, even if he was in a position where he could just walk away, he didn't want to. Too much was at stakes, and the citizens of Nohr truly needed the resources of Hoshido if they wanted to avoid living a miserable life.

His life and his feelings would always remain less important than the fate of the world.

Sighing, Corrin wondered if he could tell himself that again the next time he'd doubt. Regardless, the young man put on his armor and a cloak, and began to head downstairs.

Below, at the halls, the Rats Catchers were gathered and hard at work. They were covered head-to-toe in dark clothing, and most had a bizarre bird-like mask on their face, with red lenses. Allegedly, they completely covered themselves to avoid being poisoned by a passing ninja, but some said that it was also to intimidate allies and enemies alike. The servants were intimidated enough to give them a wide birth, and a few looked, distressed, at the plates of food that were left on the table. They quite overestimated the rat catchers's desire to eat it seemed.

"I'm sorry, could I borrow this?" Said Corrin, to a maid in particular. She had long, slicked-back brown hair, large eyebrows, piercing blue eyes and was stressed enough to practically jump several meters high upon being called by Corrin.

"Y-yes! It's still warm. W-we could even tie it into a package!"

"Oh, that'd be great! I'm going to take a night walk after all." He said.

"Then shall we fetch you guards? We are aware of your fantastic battle skills, my lord, but one is never too careful!"

His reply thankfully came out with appropriate levels of confidence. "I fear no Hoshidans, milady. I thank you for your concern, though." And, upon seeing the relief on the maid's face, he wished he could do that more.

…

The Mokushujin city night was quite less obnoxious than the Nestran one. Though it made little difference for one such as Beruka. As usual though, Selena basked in the lights, in clear awe at the culture around her. This meant that she pointed a lot, exclaiming "hey lookie!" or "whoah!".

But while Selena's eyes focused on the food stands or clothes, Beruka's sight revealed most worrying sights, such as the slightest irregular movement in the crowd, or the couple of people who were talking to another, whispering, perhaps, of the downfall of the Nohrian army. However, her actual aim was sloppy tonight. Not as well-refined as it was. Perhaps because of the ambient noise, which made it hard for her to concentrate. Or perhaps because of Arthur's repeated insistence to smash his toe against whatever object happened to even exist near him.

Once more, the hero of justice laid on the floor, holding his foot and vainly attempting not to groan in agony. Effie, who stood next to him, kicked away the small child toy that somehow found its way to him (causing a young girl to howl in the background) and got him up.

"We apologize, Arthur always had some bad luck…"

"Oh, don't worry! It's just a bit odd that he keeps hitting all that stuff."

She had heard that Arthur and Effie, like her, were for the slums. This wasn't anything of interest for her : A huge portion of the Nohrian army had crawled its way out of Nohr's decrepit streets. The dark, yet sadly well-known underbellies of the large cities of Nohr were the theaters of a thousand tragedies as the less fortunate Nohrians, either too young, weak or sickly to be of use in society, fought to live for another day. Windmire's slums were perhaps the largest, and a few said that it saw more deaths over than span of a week than battlefields ever saw over the course of a war. Exaggerations, but there was a degree of truth to it.

The Nohrian government obviously minimized the slums and attempted to pull people out of their misery, but it still maintained them. Plenty argued that the slums toughened up Nohrians and made them stronger. The weak would perish (less mouths to feed), and the children would need to grow up quickly to become efficient warriors, and would earn their place at the table. It also helped that Nohr's countryside was harsh thus, it helped for them to have grown up somewhere "difficult" (as vast as an understatement as it can be to describe the slums) to better adapt to life outside.

Though rumors down there said that the nobles also found interest in seeing the slaughter. They would witness these desperate wretches crawl to attempt to gain even a tiny shred of what the nobles had, and the wicked aristocrats found pleasure in such a miserable spectacle. And if they weren't nobles, then it was the high-ranking members of the army, who liked to look back on their childhood homes. Iago, for instance, was one of those people.

The point was, Beruka liked to think that warriors like her were being bred down there, but whenever she looked at Arthur, she was most unimpressed. His belief in justice was one thing, but a man like him should never have made it out of the slums, let alone Mokushu's shores.

"So!" Selena turned to Beruka. "What do you think we ought to buy?"

"Weapons. To prepare ourselves for the battle that is due tomorrow."

"Hm… correct, but I think we're quite packed for that one." Said Selena. "Let's…"

"Head back and rest, for we will need the proper amount of sleep to carry on our duty tomorrow."

Selena looked back at Beruka and raised an eyebrow. "We won't be doing anything together for a while… well, you know, we'll be doing a lot of warring but yah. How about we use this last night to get ourselves a souvenir? We can do just that and then we head back to our quarters. Are you fine with that?"

This was a sensible proposal, and should she be in another mood. _Perhaps _she would've reluctantly accepted… but the young assassin wasn't feeling like humoring Selena, tonight. There was some kind of fire creeping inside her, and she was half-comforted, half-worried by its presence.

"We won't be forcing you do to anything, Beruka." Said Effie, seeing it wise to cut in. "It'd be nice but you're the one who decide what to do, right?"

"Aye! While it would be most regrettable if you were to refuse, I will not stop you! Perhaps because I'd damage my toe once more, arf!"

Beruka shook her head. The fire roared deeper with every word that was spoken. "I have no use for trinkets, and I tire of your shallow attempts to become my friend. Lady Camilla's protection shall be assured by only one of us tomorrow perhaps." It wasn't really cutting on its own, but "anger", as it was called, slipped in her words, and that fact alone seemed to be enough to stun the three retainers. This gave Beruka the time to quietly slip away, feeling somehow brazen. They didn't call out for her, though she could see that Selena wasn't upset. Surprised, perhaps.

The assassin's "outburst" wasn't as quiet as it hoped she'd be, but she wanted to put her priorities straight. She didn't trust her after all, so she didn't feel safe becoming her "friend", and beside… beside, what use was a friend to a King's Shadow? If Beruka were to gain that title, then she would need to abandon all her past relationships, and subsume her existence into Nohr's darkness. It would be easier to do it right now, and close her heart now, instead of feeding a false hope. She could only hope that Selena would remain a professional about this.

But the redhead's reaction was minor compared to what she was now aiming to do : Announce to Corrin her destiny, so that he could be warned in time. Now, right before the actual campaign started, it was important to settle all her personal matters. She had failed to do so, even when she had plenty of time, so she had no other choices but to do it right now, or fear that she would become too concerned by the battles to properly explain her future new position.

But was was holding up was _why _she struggled to attempt to cut off her bonds so easily. She knew that they merely wished to have her strength. Believed wholesale that no one in this world wished to simply make friends without reaping some benefits. And Corrin himself had said so on the ship, when she was back from feeding Altena.). It should be easy for her to suppress those relationships… but yet, why was it difficult? Such a matter was easy to settle for an assassin but yet something in Beruka told her to go back and offer her apologies to Selena, and the azure-haired assassin found herself almost humoring the wish.

She had easily ended lives, why was it so hard to just admit the truth? What was this odd feeling that grew as she made her way towards the place where she guessed the Nohrian prince was at? For the briefest second she considered _stopping_, as if terrified of somehow speaking about it to him, but the Nohrian refused to do so. How could one expect her to fight the Hoshidans when she was too cowardly to confront a naïve boy such as him? She steeled herself once more and headed towards the entrance, eager to get things over it.

And then she actually saw Corrin, at the entrance, carrying a small-box under his arm. To her frustration, whatever excuses she managed to give herself had long since faded into the wind by then.

"Oh hey!" He said. "Hello Beruka!"

Her reply was slower than she thought it'd be. "… Hello."

"I'm glad you're here." He admitted. "We haven't talked for a while, haven't we? We ought to catch up! Well, maybe later? I'm about to go take a walk and you don't really like the streets so…"

Beruka waved her hand dismissively. "I can handle the bright lights as long as you make haste."

"Alright, well, huh, follow me."

They both headed out for Kotato's palace. A few Mokushujins recognized the Nohrian prince and threw looks at her, perhaps thinking that she was a friend. A lesser assassin would balk at the idea of being unrecognized, but she didn't care, simply keeping herself ready in case a Hoshidan ninja attempted a most daring attack on the prince. Paranoia was good when one was into a territory potentially crawling with enemies.

"So, Beruka." He asked. "What do you think of Mokushu?" Corrin's red eyes turned towards her, seemingly genuinely curious.

"… Busy." She answered. "But there are more pressing matters to attend to, such as the incoming assault."

"You're right." He agreed. "Don't you feel a little nervous? We're really going to be attacking them instead of defending."

"No. This is what we trained for." Replied Beruka, reminding him of their training. "You have become more powerful than before and your family is assisting us. Hoshido will fall. There shall be casualties, without a doubt, but you will need to steel your heart and press on."

She kept pace with him. "I am not saying this lightly."

"I know, but it's hard. Tell me, Beruka, how do you… get numb to it?" He asked, whispering to avoid being heard. "How can you accept that so easily?"

"It doesn't come off easily… But I only ask that you do not weep for the enemy as you slay them."

"I know, but I'm just… curious, I guess. How do you do that?"

Arriving at the doors to the palace, the guards allowed Corrin to access Kotaro's lair. Beruka entered the building and waited until they reached the cave to speak up, for far less people stood in it. "My work?" He gave his silent approval. "I had to do it for a long time. You are aware."

"I am, but it's weird. You can't ever get used to killing, right?"

"Ask the army." She answered, going down the stairs. "Killing was the only way to survive deep in the slums. Diplomacy or pity would not earn you the right to live through another day, for misery can make people deaf to negotiations, as sensible as they are. Many of us had to fight our way to the top. And even after clawing our ways out of the slum, we simply went for the professions best suited for our talents."

She thought of _him, _and perhaps her body language betrayed her brief contempt because she felt Corrin's hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry." He said, before going down. And she just nudged his hand away. "Do not pity me."

Corrin looked ready to speak some more, but noticed that they stood near the halls where the prisoners were being held. A masked man approached, his tone wary. "Milord Corrin, what are you doing here?"

"I would wish to speak with one of the prisoners." Said Corrin. "I do believe that I can get him to spill valuable informations, and I have… brought a Nohrian torture expert with me in case he doesn't comply."

Beruka glared, and the masked man almost collapsed in fright. Such nervousness was odd coming out of the servant, since he had little to fear, but perhaps he was cowardly, like a lot of his fellow shinobis. "A-ah, I see! With whom do you wish to speak? We have plenty!"

"I wish to have a talk with a white-haired man. He was discharged from our boat recently. Led me to him." He said, struggling not to say "please" per accident. This bout of firmness allowed Corrin to easily gain access to Shura's cell, which happened to be near Kagero. A few guards stood near the cramped wooden cell, but he dismissed them with a wave, prompting them to retreat. "Stay back while I interrogate the prisoner."

The retainer did so, but beforehand, she leaned it to whisper a "good work." He still had a way to go in some aspects, but she managed to get him to be firm when he had to. Corrin couldn't help but crack a proud little grin, even if Shura's predicament had him drop it after a short time.

Beruka stood guard near the rocky entrance to the room, and saw that Shura was unharmed. His garbs had been taken away and replaced with a bunch of rags though, and calling the food nearby "indigestible" would perhaps be a compliment to it. In fact, the outlaw's tired eyes almost bulged out of their sockets when Corrin unwrapped his meal and handed it over to him through his cage. Had Corrin not handed him some cutlery, he would've perhaps dug into the food with his own hands.

"Sorry, I couldn't get it to be warm." He said. "Are you okay?"

The sound of chewing was his sole answer, so the dragon prince opted to sit back and wait. Beruka observed the situation but didn't see fit to intervene. She couldn't help but both be annoyed yet a bit intrigued at Corrin's continuous desire to feed a pirate who had attempted to steal their loot in some foolish operation, but another part found it rather intriguing. The way he constantly helped people and attempted, vain as it was, to spare his enemies was a source of frustration yet interest to her. Should he learn her lesson and eventually truly cut loose on their foes, she'd be satisfied… and _perhaps,_ also a bit saddened.

Once he was done, Shura threw the small container away. "I've been missing my butler." He said, before looking up at Beruka. "Huh, and you've brought a girlfriend too." The assassin didn't see fit to dignify his words with a reply, but Corrin had to save face by putting his two hands in front of his face, as if yawning.

"She's Beruka, we're… battle buddies." He hesitated a little but composed himself. "Hm, anyway. Shura, how are you?"

"Well if you exclude the part where I'm in a small, cramped wooden cage that smells like piss, I guess I'm doing great."

"Have they done anything to you?"

"Mokushu's done the worst thing it could've done to me years ago. Don't fret, kid." He said. "I'm just an old outlaw way past his expiration date. I appreciate the attention but forget me, alright? You've got a legacy to build."

"A legacy?" Said Corrin. Shura chuckled and attempted to get himself in a confortable position, though the cage proved itself too tight for that.

"It's the mess you leave behind to future generations." He chuckled. "We all leave some legacy of our own, through children or writing but, let's not kid ourselves here, a prince like you is going to leave behind a bigger legacy than any of the losers sitting down there." He jammed his thumb backward. "We're all going to die down there, but you're about to take over Hoshido, right? Why'd ya waste your time on me?"

"I don't judge people by the impact they'll have on the world… And I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Shoot."

"Are you from Kohga?"

Shura nodded, his smile barely hiding some refrained anger. "Took you a while to figure it out. I guess the names and techniques should've made it obvious."

Corrin brushed that off. "What were you doing in Nohr?"

"Heh. Well, when Kohga was invaded, I was away." Said Shura. "The books will tell ya that it was a war, but Mokushu attacked us by surprise and just butchered my people. A lot of us were away in missions in Nohr, so when we returned home, we found either smoking ruins or a new banner floating above our towns." He said. "And for many of my countrymen, that was the last thing they saw before Mokushujins jumped them. No prisoners… Heh, me though? I survived." He glanced away. "And I ran away, to Nohr."

"Why Nohr? Hoshido was close, right?"

"Hoshido? Heh… Yeah, maybe that was the better choice in hindsight. They have actual crops, their cities aren't crawling with psychopaths and it's easy for me to make a living there." He answered. "But I didn't want to go there after they just sat there and let it happen. And beside… I didn't feel like I deserved to live there."

Shura looked up at the ceiling. "I failed my country and my people, so crawling away to some piece of paradise? That wouldn't be very nice of me. So, I went to Nohr. I'd live in this blighted land as an outlaw and I'd get penance for not being there at a time where my country needed me."

"You would never had any impact on the war." Said Beruka, bluntly. Shura chuckled. "Nohrian honesty at work… Heh, impact or not, it sucks to outlive your country. I knew that I had no shot at ending the man who gave the order though, so I went to Nohr and resolved to become an outlaw. Though I moved south because it's just that terrible in there."

"Too used to your sunny forests?" Retorted Beruka.

"Pfeuh, you're acting proud of having some piece of shit landscape now? You Nohrians are about to set half of this continent on fire just because it's that much of a mess and you all want to get off it."

Corrin coughed "So… you don't have an high opinion of Nohr, right?"

"An educated guess."

"Yeah, we… I know that Nohr has failed you." Said Corrin. "But then why would you get on the ship? Did you plan to strike at us?"

"I'm not suicidal. I just… I just realized that maybe in all this mess, I could attempt to strike at Mokushu." Said Shura. "I could sneak in and try to kill Kotaro while he was busy. He's paranoid with small ships but he'd let the Nohrian ones in, right?"

"I see… hmm, still, you were strangely nonchalant about getting caught." Said Corrin.

"It was a one in a billion shot. I knew, as soon as I got on this boat, that I was going to probably die a slow death but by this point, I'm just an old man without an home to go back to, dragging his weight all around the continent and desperately trying to give himself a purpose." Shura pointed at himself. I don't care about dying, and even if I had managed to somehow axe Kotaro, I would've probably surrendered myself to his goons. I'd die, and I'd finally join my brethren in the afterlife."

Beruka blinked once, not touched by his self-pitying monologue, but Corrin shook a little, and struggled to keep his composure as he spoke.

"You're not without a purpose, we… We could try to give you one in the army." He said. "We'll give you one if you desire…"

Shura tilted his head. "I tried to rob your treasury, right? And I just admitted that I wanted to murder your ally. Who in the world would want to recruit me by that point?"

"Anyone who is willing to commit murder on such a scale for the sake of power is not an ally of mine."

Beruka almost slammed her head against the rocky surroundings of the cave, but restrained herself as Corrin held out his hand. "I'm going to have a talk with Kotaro and make him see the errors in his way. There is much I'll stomach today, but I will not allow this to stand any further. Join us, gain a purpose, and form your own legacy by helping against Hoshido."

Shura's reply didn't come out, partly because the outlaw was quite stunned, partly because he was interrupted rather loudly by a cacophony of sounds outside, accompanied by the abrupt intervention of two Mokushujin guards and the masked man from earlier.

"Milord, you must not stay here!" Said the one on the left. "T-there is an attack going on! Hoshidans are attacking!"

"Quick, you must accompany us to reunite with you-GWAH!" Before he could finish, the soldier found out that a large sharp object had entered his back. He fell right along his colleague : Both had a knife stuck in their back, courtesy of the masked man. His mask was that of a demon, but his shaky body language betrayed his actual doubt quite well.

"F-for Hoshido!" He yelled, shortly before Beruka knocked him out with a direct strike to the jaw. She wished to interrogate him, but it appeared that the situation was quite clear. And quite distressing : She had expected an attack, but how could Hoshido be this brazen? The Nohrian army was gathered here after all.

"W-what is going on?"

Shura sighed. "An attack, obviously!" He said. "You should go before you get ambushed by more of 'em. Ninjas are deadly."

"We'll do, but first…"

Corrin grasped the wooden cage and, without even grunting, ripped it apart with a simple pull, freeing Shura. "It's going to be dangerous for you to remain locked up down here. Come on!" And before Beruka could chide him, Corrin was off to step into the halls. The assassin sighed, and followed him, keeping a wary eye on Shura. The Kohgajin grasped a knife and followed them, seemingly not intending to betray them for now.

What was happening down there wasn't quite an uprising by the prisoners but, by the sounds of things, they were being freed by the Hoshidans. The guards inside, overwhelmed, were either slaughtered by ninjas or quickly overwhelmed by their freedom-driven victims. Hoshidan ninjas were going around either smashing the cages or unlocking them using a fallen guard's key.

"… You guys want a part in that?"

"We need to retreat. I'm… I'm going to try to find Kotaro since he has to be the target. Beruka, try to fall back and meet up with the others, and guide Shura!"

"Understood."

"W-what?!"

But before the outlaw could protest any further, Corrin dashed towards the stairs leading to the exit. Like a blur, he laid out the ninjas or prisoners in his sight, moving at fascinating speed. Beruka would've perhaps admired it more, but in battle, one had to be careful, especially when two Hoshidan ninjas were gunning right for them.

"You side with a Nohrian, traitor?! Then die!" But their serrated swords slashed naught but the air, and in an instant, Beruka pulled out her trusty axe to quickly take them down, cleanly separating their heads from their body in the same clean slash. This caused some pause amongst the fighters, which she used to throw her axe, landing it on another ninja's head.

"If you run, I'll catch you." And, with that bit of encouraging advice, Beruka dove into the fray, pulling out her weapon and slamming it into another with great speed. Shura contemplated his puny knife, looked at the hellish situation that was going on around him and decided that, between a lot of angry guards and prisoners and Beruka, perhaps fighting the former would be safer.

Both fighters, as they went in, didn't notice who was standing amongst the cannon fodder though. Kagero, Ryoma's retainer, was out of her cell, keeping a calm attitude as the situation around her unraveled. Leading her own part of the charge, she efficiently gave orders, and contributed to the slaughter of the hapless staff. As she slew yet another Mokushujin, her calm eyes settled towards Beruka… and twisted in fury.

It was _her!_

…

Corrin made his way across the castle, thoroughly regretting his decision to leave. Right now, his brothers and sisters were, without a doubt, panicked by his absence! But, luckily enough, the young prince didn't intend to dive at the heart of the fray yet. He'd just find Kotaro and would form a defensive position with him until help could arrive.

Up above, various Hoshidans and Mokushujins were fighting and, fast as he was, Corrin couldn't help but slow himself down by punching, kicking or even cutting down the foes on his way. He moved around the ravaged halls like a black arrow, saving or ending lives before the various soldiers around him could even react. And yet, this fantastic speed wasn't enough for him, not when it allowed him to see the people who were being speared in a corner, before he could intervene, or those who were already dead prior to his passing.

So many sights that he had to ignore to reach a man that he, at the moment, had quite the distaste for. Reaching a Hoshidan ninja that was about to murder a civilian, he casually pushed the assailant towards a wooden wall, with enough force to embed him into it, and then moved with great swiftness to yank him by the collar, speaking firmly.

"Why are you doing this? What is your goal?!"

"For Hoshido!" Replied the soldier. A defiant word, meant to be accompanied by a defiant gesture, but Corrin simply shoved the man through the wall, knocking him out, and headed for the civilian. "Quick, hide somewhere! I'll come back for you!"

The man seemingly agreed, but as soon as Corrin had his back turned, he grabbed his aggressor's fallen weapon and used it to stab a soldier in the back. Corrin briefly stopped before running upstairs. The halls of the Mokushujin castle were quite tight, but it was quite easy to guess where the office was. He knew Kotaro well enough, by that point, to assume that the _Daimyô _would hide beneath a large wooden door, with some steel compartment in it to ensure that no army would so easily bust it down. To Corrin's dismay though, the Hoshidans had already taken over it, and an intimidating group of soldiers stood in his path, eager to cut down the traitorous prince.

In answer, the traitorous prince sent them flying with a tackle, and ran for the door. Having no patience, he punched them open, with such force that the doors's massive hinges very nearly gave out. A foolish decision, since it could've been used as a defensive location, but Corrin was too stressed to realize his mistake. And too horrified by the sight in front of him as well.

Kotaro was kneeling on the ground. He had put up a fight, as indicated by the shurikens and dead shinobis around the ruined room, but alas, the Daimyo's bruises, his snapped arm-blades and, most obviously, the massive wound on his throat indicated that he had come up short. And who else but Saizo, the red-haired retainer of Ryoma, could come up against such a fearsome individual, and triumph?

"How's that for a single blow?" He asked, looking down at the soon-to-be-corpse. Kotaro moved his mouth to answer, but before he could do so, another masked man came up right behind him and stabbed him in the back, ending his life swiftly.

"Noooo!" Yelled Corrin. As rotten as he was, the prince would rather not have such a horrible demise happen to anyone, even someone he dislikes. Quickly snapping out of his shock, the dragon prince deflected the shurikens sent his way by Saizo.

"How did you get up here so fast?" Muttered Saizo. "Hmph. It matters not."

"It does!" Said Corrin, taking a stance. "Because I'm going to stop you two right here and now!"

…

**N/A : **Action time, woohoo!

Pretty neat chapter I hope! Kotaro's still a jerk here but it's because his role isn't really any bigger than in the game. Some new worldbuilding, Shura explanations, and Beruka's about to be in for the fight of her life against Kagero!

What did you think of this chapter? All reviews are welcome!

See ya later!


	19. The Duel

Kotaro's office was the theatre of a confrontation between three people.

The first was Corrin, Nohr's dark prince. A young man who chose to serve the country he grew up in over the country he belonged. To his regret, the peace that he seeks is without a doubt beyond his reach, for the hatred between Hoshido and Nohr is deep and psychopaths lead the dark country's highest spheres of powers, distressingly enough. Right now, he stands over the corpse of the leader of an allied nation. While the man was obviously rotten, his failure to save him will nonetheless haunt Corrin for a while. The best he can do is avenge him.

And to do that, he must be able to beat Saizo. Ryoma's retainer, a skilled ninja and Kaze's brother as well. The shinobi was fresh off murdering Kotaro, and was observing Corrin with his scarred eye, slowly pacing around the room. He knew that, at any moment, the prince could easily charge and demolish him, but he didn't show even a hint of fear, defiantly looking down at the prince.

The last man on the scene had a long cloak to cover his body, and an owl-like mask along with a black hood masked his head. Unlike Saizo, he didn't speak a word, though he also paced the room. The fact that he concealed himself that thoroughly, his quietness and presence alongside worried Corrin for a fraction of a second but he shook his head. Kaze had proved his loyalty when he fought against the Hoshidans at Cheve, didn't he? Beside he had more important matters to attend to.

Exploiting that slight moment of confusion, Saizo grabbed a red ball and threw it on the ground immediately, plunging the room under a thick smokescreen. Corrin coughed a little but that wasn't too much of an issue to him. Before long, his fantastic senses detected about two attacks coming his way, which he parried with his armored wrists. Sparks flew and two halves of the sword went flying into the air. The ninjas, upon landing, simply discarded their now-broken swords, though they both did so by shooting the jagged remains at Corrin. Once more, he parried almost effortlessly and moved his hand to grab the next projectile thrown at him, only realizing too late that it was a sphere of a sort.

Which promptly exploded into his hands, releasing some sort of particularly noxious smoke. Corrin backed away in time but breathed in some of it, causing him to let out a pained gasp. Tears escaped from his eyes in a manner that he couldn't control and he had to close his eyes quickly, since he felt like they were being raked with claws with every second he spent having them open. He wished to rely on his sense of smell, but the putrid smell quickly overpowered the other odors in the room. He opened his mouth to cough but his tongue and throat stung as if besieged by angry bees and he was quickly forced to close them, putting his left hand in front of his mouth and nose to avoid breathing in anything else. Only his ears seemed to be working but keeping himself focused when he was panicked and in pain proved to be pretty tough.

He heard weapons being drawn and grasped Yato. The man on the left leapt to slash at him but Corrin slashed at him, with such strength that the man's sword snapped in half again. This left him open to Saizo though, and the ninja exploited that brief moment of weakness efficiently, running in and slashing the prince in the left rib with his sword. To the dragon's horror, whatever sword he wielded was well-made enough to pierce through his black armor and his skin as well. Blood spurted forth out of the wound, and pain comparable to that one arrow wound he received in the opera took hold of his body, overwhelming him and causing him to kneel to the ground. To make matters worse, and perhaps to try to get Corrin to stop protecting his mouth, the second man kicked him right in the wound, causing his ribs to feel like they were being taken apart by a bear.

He actually didn't know if the tears he was shedding were still unintentional or if they were caused by the pain now. Being set on fire would be less painful perhaps. Luckily enough, the ninjas stopped their offensive, perhaps guessing that Corrin was now too weak to stop them. By now though, he could only really tell the movements of one. Saizo was slowly walking back and forth across the room. The smoke didn't bother him but Corrin remembered that he always had a mask on, and perhaps he knew how to avoid whatever toxic garbage they threw his way.

"Corrin of Nohr… I would love nothing more than to sever your head from your body." Said Saizo, saying Nohr almost spitefully. "But Lord Ryoma desire to slay you in honorable combat. However, this doesn't mean that your capture will-"

The prince threw himself forward and tackled Saizo with such strength that the ninja actually left out a strangled grasp, and went through the window of Kotaro's office, breaking through the glass and causing both men to tumble along the tiered roof in front of it. Corrin simply grasped the tiles and dug his fingers into the material but Saizo, lacking the strength to perform such a feat, had to stab his arm-blades into the roof itself, dragging along a little before he eventually stopped. The smoke poured out of the room but now that he wasn't exposed to it, the prince's accelerated healing managed to repel some of the effects of the noxious attack, and he weakly opened his eyes, admittedly eager to get some revenge on Saizo.

The ninja grunted and grabbed another orb out of a bag on his pocket, intending to throw it at the ground again. Corrin rushed at Ryoma's retainer like a bull before the shinobi could once again summon his annoying smoke-screen, and attacked him with Yato. Saizo blocked, but barely, and the large sword he had in hand cracked badly upon contact with the legendary sword. Corrin, using his superior strength, pushed the ninja backward and resumed the assault.

He could see that the ninja had a large yellow sword, with a jagged edge to it. Emphasis on _had_, because Yato's second strike shattered the sword into multiple fragments. Saizo's surprise was great but he moved his arms in time to parry Corrin's incoming kick. This didn't quite save him from the attack though, and, had the prince decided to add more force to it, his arms would be quite useless by now. The strength of the attack was great enough to cause him to let go of the other weapon he was holding, and it fell deep into the city below, causing the young man to glance down at it.

Several figures were running across the night, settling some wooden buildings ablaze and triggering explosives over the city. Some valiant ninjas were trying to stop them but the Hoshidans sent here were skilled _Master Ninjas_, a higher-class of shinobis. Some said they could single-handedly take over entire countries, but while those rumors were certainly exaggerated, they still had more than enough talent to easily carve open their lesser opponents, sometimes not even stopping to do so. Corrin frowned, and turned towards Saizo. The ninja was nursing his left arm and knelt on the ground, more shook by the blow than he thought. A sweet voice told him that he could exploit this and finish off the ninja, and avenge the numerous people dying on the street below while dealing a mighty blow to Hoshido. But yet, he didn't want to kill him. Capture him, for sure, but not kill him.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Mokushu has been allying with Nohr and has slaughtered its neighbors." Replied Saizo. "This should've happened far earlier if you ask me." Saizo moved to get up but Corrin pointed the tip of his sword at the ninja and _stabbed him right into the throat _silently warned him. The ninja was fast, but his foe was even faster, and with the after-effects of the smoke attack vanishing quickly, and being subsided by adrenaline, he felt like he could go even faster than he usually did.

"Kotaro was a fool." Admitted Corrin, and he wasn't entirely acting on that one. "But the people of Mokushu, the civilians below, do not deserve to die over that."

"They've been profiting off the sins of their ancestors just fine." Retorted the ninja. "But enough of that. Argue as you want, I shall not pay heed to whatever hypocrisy a Nohrian dog like you will spout at me." He frowned. "And a traitor on top of that."

He remembers how his "older brother" boasted that his retainer was not one to sugarcoat things. On that aspect, he was quite right. "Fine. Where's Ryoma then?" And while he expected yet another insult, the ninja's answer was relatively quick.

"Lord Ryoma is too important to waste his time attacking a non-threat like Mokushu."

"I guess this says a lot about _your _importance then." He fired back, relatively toothlessly.

"I had a personal matter to settle with Kotaro." Answered Saizo. "And I know Mokushu better than anyone else."

"Are you here to save Kagero?" And Saizo outright _scoffed_. That was perhaps the first time he actually heard the shinobi laugh.

"Kagero? Captured? What manner of naïve dimwit are you, "prince"? The "ninjas" here wouldn't be able to capture her in her sleep. This was simply part of the plan."

Corrin lost his patience and took a few steps forwards, twirling his weapon. "The plan that you're going to be happily sharing with us very soon." He said, actually giving himself a little pat on the back for how intimidating (in his eyes) he viewed. People were dying, and Ryoma's right-hand was obviously not going to cooperate. Instead of wasting time leading a fruitless interrogation, he was simply going to knock him out and lead the counter-attack.

However, he knew that one obstacle stood in his way. And it just made itself known, leaping at Corrin's back with the intent of plunging his wrymslayer blade through his armor and into his flesh, in spite of Saizo's earlier talks about holding back. Had it occurred a few months ago, Corrin would have a sword through the chest now, and several massive medical urgencies in need of solving, but the _current _Corrin simply leaned to the left and allowed the weapon to miss its mark by several centimeters. He, however, didn't miss : His elbow shot backward and painfully collided with the masked man's stomach, briefly suspending him in mid-air before falling down to the ground as an unconscious heap.

Why he didn't use that smoke, Corrin didn't know. Perhaps he had used it up on the guards earlier? Regardless, Saizo had moved while his partner made his move, but the dragon was swift enough to easily catch up to him. It would be easy to overpower the retainer but… but alas, the same paranoia that allowed him to prevail against the surprise attack now worked against the blue-haired prince, and he moved to grasp the mask before ripping it off, fearing that he would witness quite the cruel reveal.

When he saw a young, brown-haired, bearded man with a small beard, he almost feel relived. To the point where he didn't even stop to think why he took such a long time assisting Saizo. And that sole second of focus on the now no longer masked man proved capital for his partner, who leapt in the air. The draconic prince's attention shifted back to the retainer, and his natural sympathy won over the adrenaline as he rushed to the edge of the roof, in a vain attempt to prevent his adversary from seemingly killing himself, as ninjas were supposed to do upon capture.

Only he could yell "Saizo, wait!" when the target of his yelling was already seemingly leaping to his death.

However, the ninja was crafty, and his less-injured arm grasped a new device while he was seemingly plummeting down the fiery streets. Grabbing the tool and pointing it upward allowed Saizo to shoot a hook tied to a cord. The projectile embedded itself into a nearby building and the red-haired man swung himself towards safety using it, all under Corrin's amazed gaze. He even swore that the ninja turned towards him while swinging, as if taunting. The hunt was on again, but even with his current level of strength, he didn't know if he could leap buildings!

Or if he should leave it. The people inside, perhaps they'd need help after all… Hm, no. it wasn't the time to hesitate. Were Beruka in his shoes, she'd give chase. Capturing Saizo could lead to an easier victory down the line after all… but still, the people inside, they… well they had Beruka herself. She'd handle things. And he also could handle Saizo's brand new method of escape. The prince, knowing he didn't have much time left, prayed to the dusk dragon before jumping off the roof as well. He had hit the masked man hard enough to ensure that he'd wake up with a virulent nausea, so he wasn't afraid of him waking up and walking away.

What he _was _afraid of was the ground that was rapidly approaching, and the feeling of being completely without anything to hang on to. It was terrifying yet oddly thrilling, causing Corrin to crack an unusual grin in the front of the dramatic circumstances. He used that thrill and tried to channel his energy into his back. He visualized big dragon wings similar to the ones he had as a dragon.

Wings that could carry him through a continent through seconds, wings that could raise storms and change the weather with a single flap, wings that could appear and prevent him from smashing painfully into the ground, most importantly. He focused his efforts into his back and imagined that he could fly. And, for once, fate decided to smile upon Corrin. Seconds before he met the ground, he felt two things grows on his back in the span of about a second, though it wasn't some painful process where they grew out of his back (luckily enough). Rather, he felt as if a great quantity of water struck him in the back, and could see some familiar ethereal water falls to the ground along with him.

It was a complicated thing to describe. He felt like he had two news arms, and to use them, he simply thought about flapping them. Instantly, his trajectory changed and Corrin swung upward, narrowly dodging the ground (and scaring a Hoshidan soldier enough to allow a Mokushujin to get a deadly blow in) and taking to the sky at great speed. It was utterly wondrous and, in spite of the circumstances, a big great grin appeared on the prince's face as he spread his arms, very briefly forgetting all the horror around him. He was flying! On his own! He could see his two great wings carrying him upwards with a mighty draft, and his swiftness made it hard for enemy ninjas to even consider shoot him down too!

Corrin howled in joy a little. "Y-YEEEAAHHHHHHHH! I'm flying! I'm flying!" But then, the prince remembered that there was a particular law to flight, and high-speed movement in general : If you get too distracted while moving, you _will _smack into something. In a manner that is, if not painful, somewhat humiliating. And distracted as he was with his newfound gift, the Nohrian Icarus didn't notice the building in front of him until it was too late. Shielding his face and eyes and retracting his wings was all he could do before he slammed through the window, crashing right into a rather busy room and knocking away a ton of furniture in the way. The prince briefly rolled on the floor and stopped upon hitting the wall, with some sheet falling upon him afterwards.

The prince grunted and got the sheet off him. He wished to observe his surroundings, but something struck him in the head, though it surprised him far more than it hurt him. Reflexively raising his hands to defend himself, the prince glanced upwards and noticed that a half-dressed Mokushujin lady was furiously striking at him using an umbrella, perhaps greatly angered by his unexpected crashing into her building. She yelled at him in her native tongue, but even if he didn't speak it, he was quite aware that she probably mistook him for a pervert or an invader.

"W-wait, I can explain!" He said, only hoping that Beruka and Shura were doing better.

…

_One minute earlier…_

Beruka swiftly relieved a Hoshidan soldier of his head with a swing of her axe. "On your right." She called out, allowing Shura to expertly dodge a stab from a shank-wielding prisoner. The white-haired man instantly fought back with a punch to the jaw, knocking the man out-cold and dropping him to the floor. No time to relax though : Shura soon found himself under attack by a Hoshidan soldier, and the knife he had picked up found itself outmatched by the Katana that his enemy wielded. He held his own, but the five quick blows that they traded put him on the defensive quickly, and his weapon would snap in one more blow.

The assassin had no real reason to care about his safety, but he was an ally against quite a lot of foes (temporary as it was), and only an idiot would deliberately remove an extra body to throw against the horde. Swiftly kicking her current foe in the stomach to get him off her back for a second, Beruka spun around and launched her tomahawk to strike Shura's enemy on his back, felling him and allowing the outlaw some breathing room. He immediately grabbed the discarded katana and threw the knife away.

"Thanks!" He said, briefly turning to face the assassin as she brutally finished off the goon she had previously struck. An assassin attempted to exploit this but Shura quite handily dispatched him with a casual backhand, not even bothering to turn around.

"You are too soft. The enemy must die. Use your weapons."

"Hey now, these guys were also in those cells, same as me! Ya know, if you and the kid arrived just one or two minutes later, I'd probably be fighting _with _those guys."

The assassin, detecting a lull in the fight, didn't reply. Pointing her bloody axe at Shura proved, after all, to be a bit more effective at intimidating him than whatever boast she could think up. But while he did seems intimidated enough, it didn't seems like that was the only reason why he was staying here.

"The kid's alright, so I'm not going to stick a knife in his back." Said Shura.

"And by doing that, you team up with Mokushu."

"Heh, never said I'd stick around now."

Beruka turned to look at their enemies. Most of the prisoners were fearful to go against the remaining guards, the Kohgajin and Beruka now, and the Hoshidans that were sent down were seemingly of lesser numbers, especially with the fight that just happened. It was only a matter of defeating a bunch of confused men and women, about four Hoshidan and, last of all, Kagero. The woman stood in the middle of the others, glaring daggers at the azure-haired murderer.

"We've lost too much time with these two." She said, stepping forth. "I'll handle them. Soldiers, go outside and join up with the others."

"L-lady Kagero, those people are dangerous! Have care!"

The Kunoichi confidently took a few steps forwards. While she had acquired a guard's armored uniform, surely she couldn't plan to take them all at once, right? The remaining guards lowered their weapons a little, and only Shura and Beruka kept their guards up. Both knew, better than anyone else, just how deadly Ryoma's retainer had to be.

"Come on, what's a ga-" Said the soldier, rather poorly choosing his last words. In a flash, Kagero acquired six shurikens, sliding them out of her sleeves, and effortlessly neutralized the remaining Mokushujins with them, hurling the bladed weapons right into their throats with a flick of her wrists. Shura let out an expletive in his native tongue and barely deflected the projectiles thrown his way, and so did Beruka in a calmer fashion. The attacker, not letting her opponents pause, then ran right at the other woman, swiftly knocking down the surprised guards with enough strength to put an ending to their suffering. This time, Shura wasn't as lucky, and only barely leapt aside in time to be struck in the ribs, sending him hurling. And even Beruka was taken by surprise by the sheer swiftness of the dash, only barely raising in arms in time, though Kagero still slammed into her and threw her aside.

Stunned by the impact, the assassin very quickly regained her senses when a shadow floated above her, and barely dodged a vicious stab from Kagero by rolling aside, using this as an opportunity to get up in time to dodge more slashes and stabs. The taller woman's assault was violent yet skillful : She struck out quickly but didn't exactly give Beruka any window of opportunity to strike back, impressively forcing the Nohrian elite on the defensive.

Though eventually, her anger got the best of her and she overextended, if only by a few centimeters, to attempt to perform a piercing blow. Beruka used this opportunity and leaned aside to dodge before grabbing Kagero's outstretched arm, quickly backhanding her in the guts to weaken the assailant beforehand. Her foe faltered for a second, but that was all the wyvern lord needed to lift her over her shoulder and slam her unto the floor. Having knocked down the retainer, Beruka moved to try to break her arm but Kagero kicked backward, having enough of a reach to kick her foe in the cheek and drive her backward.

Beruka and Kagero observed each other briefly as the latter rolled back unto her feet, each woman glaring darkly at the other. Beruka raised her fist and, slowly, wiped some blood on her mouth. She was good, better than she had been in Macarath. Was she holding back? Or simply underestimated the young woman? Either way…

"Beruka of Nohr." Said Kagero. "We meet again."

Shura rushed unto the scene, though not to help : He was being pursued by the Hoshidans and the other prisoners. Kagero quickly stopped the commotion by raising her hand, causing all but Shura to skid to a stop. Neither woman even dared to look at the commotion, aware that the other would pounce on the smallest distraction.

"Yes." Said Beruka. "And it will be the last time we do so."

Kagero began to circle around the arena, eventually, so did Beruka. "In the span between our encounters, I've come to understand that you've slain a lot of my countrymen… and two of my dear friends." She pointed her finger at Beruka. "Is this right? Have you murdered Orochi and Reina of Hoshido?"

"Yes." Replied Beruka. "Have you come to avenge them?"

"Correct. I, Kagero, seek to challenge you in a duel to the death! If you slay me, then you will have struck a great blow against Hoshido once more, and you will bath in the glory." She moved her arms upwards before clenching her fists. "But should I kill you, then my friends will be avenged and my honor saved."

"Spare me your traditions, Hoshidan dog." Said Beruka, preparing herself for a fight. Kagero shook her head.

"If you accept my challenge, this fight will stay between us, and should I lose, the soldiers gathered here will not harm you. Should you refuse, we will all attack you and your…"

The woman gave the most casual side-glance to Shura, but the outlaw was already on top of the stairs, having used his agility and the focus on the battle to slip away. The Kohgajin made a salute and then slipped away. "… We will all attack you. And while your skills are impressive, you cannot fend me off while defending yourself from the others."

"What the hell? Why can't we just team up on the woman?" Protested a prisoner, though his words failed to move the Hoshidans.

"Be quiet, dog! Lady Kagero's honor is worth far more than your life is! You should be running if you don't plan on fighting!" He said, jamming his finger at the door. The prisoners moved to do just that, intimidated, and both Kagero and Beruka got into position.

Kagero adopted a combative posture, and Beruka did the same. The two killers gauged each other, looking for a weak spot to exploit, though none were to be found, and their two minds came to the same conclusion : They would not be walking out of this fight without injuries. Their eyes crossed, their fists clenched and, with speed and vigor, the two warriors threw themselves at one another, clashing directly before backing off and launching off into a series of rapid attacks. Beruka proved swifter, surprisingly, and managed to score first blood when she struck Kagero in the chin. Intending to move up to keep her advantage, the assassin was promptly struck right in the stomach after underestimating her foe's ability to roll with the pain. Recovering even faster though, she kicked at Kagero, who leapt backward unto the stairs.

Beruka followed her, and the match resumed. Kagero's technique was good, but on that point, both women were evenly matched, dodging or deflecting punches with ease and not allowing themselves to be grabbed. When they were so even, the slightest injury could make a world of difference, and the two warriors would certainly attempt to inflict a devastating early on. Be it a broken limb, a blow to the eye or throat or even a direct attack on the heart…

Eventually, Beruka tired of their stalemate and, after dodging a punch, clenched her fist with the exception of two fingers before throwing them right at Kagero's eyes. A foolish move : the ninja deftly grabbed her fist and pulled it aside. She moved her hand, perhaps to try to break the arm, but Beruka's remaining free hand moved to intercept it and she, too, pulled it away from its path. Quickly, it became a contest of might : Who would overpower the other and manage to strike her? To Beruka's shock, the Kunoichi looked like she was going to win the struggle. The wyvern-rider managed to put forth a fine fight, but she was slowly being overpowered and forced to her knee, the ninja slowly looming over her with a triumphant smile. Beruka considered headbutting her, but Kagero kept her distance in preparation.

Such strength… even Charlotte would be struggling. Were those dinky wooden bars really holding her back? Perhaps she hadn't been captured after all. But regardless, it was clear that strength was her specialty, odd as it was for a ninja.

So, Beruka chose to stop playing on her field, and let go of Kagero's fist, causing her to partly stumble forward in surprise. Beruka's now freed fist clenched and, out of instinct, she moved to punch her foe right in the nose, freeing her other hand as the Kunoichi was sent reeling. The assassin moved to attack her bloodied foe but the ninja backed away with a jump, landing right in front of the door leading to freedom and observing her petite opponent.

"So much for honor." Taunted Beruka, hoping to anger her. Kagero simply backed off, and Beruka followed suit, leaping out of the room and finding herself in the wooden hall once more. It was filled with corpses, be it of Hoshidan or Mokushujins, and made a most fitting background for the duel at hand. The black-haired woman, standing on top of two of her fallen countrymen, quietly bowed forward and resumed her fighting stance, just in time to react to a lunging Beruka! Ryoma's servant grabbed Beruka in mid-air and, using her almost supernatural level of strength, threw her several feet away, landing painfully on the ground. The bandana-wearing assassin rolled to the ground to avoid a stomping attack, but this time, her dodge was anticipated, and Beruka stopped her roll in time to be struck in the face with a common kick, bloodying her face and stunning her long enough for her enemy to get on top of her.

With her superior leverage, Kagero would surely triumph in yet another contest of strength. Thus, Beruka denied her yet another occasion to showcase her strength by pushing her legs backward and promptly using them to kick the Kunoichi right in the stomach, tossing her backward through the air into the next room. This gave the assassin enough time to get up, but before she could consider her next course of action, a ninja attempted to sneak up on her, having obviously not heard what the retainer had declared in the cave, and swung her sword at the elite murderer. The assassin, eager to give herself an advantage, simply grabbed her weapon with one hand and used her elbow-claws to casually slash her throat, depriving now cold hands of the weapon they held.

Looking back, she had no obligation to humor the ninja's wish for a fair fight. She could flee and regroup instead of going deeper in a enemy-infested building after all… but yet, her pride told her not to. It was a fellow retainer and assassin she was fighting, and she had to prove her superiority. What good was a Nohrian who ran away from fights, after all? Looking back, she could've just used her claws to stab the retainer in the guts, or blinded her a few seconds ago, but her pride demanded that the fight continue to better prove her superiority.

Beruka sighed and ran deeper into the building. Kagero, who had gotten up by now, looked surprised by her sudden acquisition of a bladed weapon but accepted the challenge with her bare hands. The assassin was less comfortable with blades than she hoped (axes had become her weapon of choice), yet her attacks were nonetheless skillful. A lesser foe would've been cut to fine pieces within seconds of the attack, but yet her foe proved to be as nimble as a fox, narrowly avoiding the blade each time while moving backwards. All around them, chaos was occurring, but they both were too focused on defeating the other to pay heed to the struggle for survival of their enemies and allies. The world could end around them and yet, if they had enough ground to continue fighting, both women wouldn't care.

Agile as Kagero was, Beruka was slowly getting closer and closer. The katana's blade cut into parts of her armor and hair, and the Kunoichi frowned a little as more of her hair ended up sliced off. A lesser Nohrian would've made a joke about her neck eventually being cut, but Beruka kept her offensive, eventually backing Kagero into a wall and swinging her sword overhead to try to quickly slice her in half.

Predictably, the ninja made the decision to block the sword using her two hands, clasping them on the blade with ludicrous precision. The cold steel dug into her flesh, but Beruka wasn't satisfied with the drops of blood coming out of her hands. But before she could attempt to carry on her own offensive, Kagero struck with a kick to the stomach, driving Beruka backward and causing her grasp on the sword to weaken. Seeing an occasion, the Hoshidan moved her hands to the left and ripped the weapon free from the Nohrian hands holding it, quickly acquiring the weapon and skillfully grabbing the handle.

Now, it was Beruka's time to dodge frantically, though she kept a straight face as she barely leaned out of the way of a slash. She took a few steps backwards to dodge more attacks, observing the tip of the blade and sometimes deflecting it with her armored wrists. In spite of her superior agility, Kagero proved to be more adept with a blade, and Beruka soon found herself in a situation where the blade struck her in the face, causing her to cry out in pain as she leaned backwards to cover her cheek.

Like the assassin before her though, having her rival backed into a corner made Kagero overconfident, and she brandished the weapon for a killing sweep. However, Beruka reacted on time, moving her elbow to block the killing slash using the claws on it. Upon succeeding with her block, she moved to twist her elbow and quickly break the blade, with the claws being tough enough to snap it in half. Kagero leaned backward in surprise and Beruka used her other elbow to strike her. Alas, the ninja was too swift, but she managed to slash her in the cheek.

Both women stared at one another. The Nohrian had a slash wound on her right cheek and the Hoshidan had a similar-sized one on her left.

Kagero wiped some blood away with her thumb and glanced at it. "… You fight well, Nohrian." She complimented, rather reluctantly.

"Your friends didn't."

The Kunoichi's face twisted in barely-controlled fury. "How dare you?! Orochi and Reina were both true warriors, far better than the likes of you!" Beruka considered asking her how she knew exactly that, since few witnessed her defeat of the two elites (perhaps Camilla), but she simply chose to twist the knife further to goad Kagero.

"If they were as good as you say… You wouldn't need to avenge them."

Kagero almost howled in anger and threw herself forward with enough speed to actually surprise Beruka, slamming into the woman and dragging her through the room and into the stairs leading to the upper floors. The thick wooden wall barely resisted her impact, and Beruka coughed harshly upon impact, spitting out blood and almost passing out from the shock. To help matters, she found herself struggling to breath : Kagero had her pinned by the throat using her forearm, and was currently preparing to use the jagged remains of the katana to stab her in the torso!

Thinking quickly, Beruka retched backward and spat blood and saliva unto her opponent's sole uncovered eye, causing her to let go of her foe in surprise. Not being done yet, the wyver rider slapped the katana away from the furious Hoshidan, grabbed her by her hair-bang, and punched her in the face about three times, adding more strength to the punch with each time and aiming for the eye. Beruka prepared another punch but the kunoichi also socked her in the face, freeing herself from her foe's grasp. Aware that she couldn't last long in such a violent unarmed brawl, the assassin decided to try to even things out, jumping out into the stairs and ascending them. Kagero gave chase, trailing behind the assassin just close enough for her breath to be felt on the back of her throat.

Beruka kept going until she was high up into the building and burst into an empty room, with about two lucky Mokushujins standing above a lot of dead corpses. They meant to yell something, but Beruka ignored them, aiming to grab a weapon. Kagero followed suit but ignored the assassin to rush the two warriors, swiftly ending their lucky streak by slamming the backs of their heads into the wood. The assassin used this extra time to get herself two knives, but Kagero also found two weapons on the corpses of the slain warriors, brandishing two kunais.

The two women resumed their fight, and sparks flew as the steel weapons met each other at a quick pace. Steel clashed with steel at quick pace but sometimes, they managed to successfully hit another. Kagero struck Beruka in the cheek yet again, making her previous wound a X-shaped one, but the assassin got her revenge when she slashed the Kunoichi a bit above the eye. Kagero swiped downward but Beruka jumped, rolling on the ninja's back and slashing her across it. The ninja actually let out an irritated yelp and struck with a kick to the back, sending Beruka flying close to a window, though she managed to turn in mid-air to land on her feet in a rather impressive display of agility.

Both women went at it again and continued the battle, evenly trading blows. A minute passed, with the occasional small wound to the face, and both moved all over the floor. After a little while though, Beruka heard fire crackling and broke the fight temporarily by pushing Kagero backwards, looking out towards the entrance. An odd orange light crept up within it, and flames danced up in the stairs, eager to devour the entire building. Beruka's eyes widened slightly but Kagero tackled her through a wooden panel before she could fully absorb the news. The Nohrian assassin rolled with it though and pushed her away with a well-placed kick, sending the assassin flying close to the window leading to the black roof outside. The ninja rolled to the ground upon impact, quite skillfully cushioning the landing, but Beruka caught up and kicked her in the chest, hurling her through the window and into the roof, causing one of Kagero's kunais to fly out of her hand and into the abyss below.

The Kunoichi rolled on her back (causing her to wince) and intercepted the second attack sent her way by leaning to the side to avoid Beruka's attempt at stabbing her. Instead of grabbing her arm, Kagero "mercifully" slammed her elbow on her rival's hand, causing her to let go of her own knife. This both left them with one weapon, prompting the two warriors to back off to evaluate their chances.

Kagero's face was bloodier, owing to the punches she suffered and the cuts on it. She knew that the woman had a wound on her back though, and her stomach was no doubt hurting after all the damage she took on it. Beruka had been hit less, but all those hits counted. She was still a bit groggy from the slam, and she doubted of her ability to stand up to yet another all-out assault of that caliber. She was seemingly less tired than Kagero, but in the midst of the massive attack, it wouldn't be good to drag out the fight. The victor could easily find herself dealing with a swarm of enemies, with the handicap of being quite exhausted and injured. The fight had to end quickly.

The two women came to the same conclusion and stared at one another. Rain began to pour in, though the roof above blocked it. Behind them, the city burned, with the fire being intense enough that both the efforts of the rain and the Nohrian mages had trouble containing it. Kagero and Beruka stared at one another, clenched their fists, and dashed at one another, slashing at one another and causing quite a lot of sparks when their weapons made contact. Beruka then promptly engaged her foe using a series of vicious attacks with her knife. Kagero backed off slightly but then launched an offensive on her own, slightly driving the Nohrian back but causing her to attack even harder on her own.

There was some symbolism to it. A Nohrian and a Hoshidan, locked in a duel to the death, fighting it out as a city burned behind them. They'd probably enjoy the symbolism if the slightest second of distraction wouldn't result in them getting stabbed right in the chin.

The fighting continued and it didn't seems like the upper hand belonged to one of the fighters. Tiring of the stalemate, Kagero decided to use her strength to her advantage with a mighty swipe of her blade, hitting with such strength that Beruka's knife flew out of her hand and off the roof. The assassin briefly glanced at the fallen weapon but then had to back off when Kagero launched an attack, attempting to do her best to exploit the advantage conferred by her weapon. Beruka dodged and, noticing her dropped knife on the floor, began to make a plot to quickly access it. Her strategy had been anticipated, though, and the Hoshidan jumped backward to kick the weapon away. Grunting, Beruka stood and waited for the ninja to strike before raising her hand to, of all things, grab the knife by letting the blade slide between her fingers before clasping her hands on the weapon and the hand holding it. Her other hand moved to collide with Kagero's face, and the woman barely raised her arm to block, letting go of the knife and being sent reeling backward.

Beruka smirked slightly, but then, next to her, the flames rose further, with the building letting out a most worrying sound as a result. It became clear that standing on the roof was quite unsafe by now : Their fight would be relocated elsewhere. Luckily for them, though, the building right next to them seemed devoid of any fighting. Its location bothered Beruka, since the flames could catch up to it, but since she had no other issues, she and Kagero made a small truce to both run across the roof before jumping right above the abyss. Both women thankfully had enough strength left to make the jump, though they crashed through the windows while doing so. Beruka covered her face using her arms and raised her knees to better take the shock, but the exhaustion of the fight must've began to settle in in spite of the adrenaline, because the landing was rough enough to make her feel like her bones had just turned to powder.

Taking the time to gather her thoughts, Beruka got up and prepared to stab, swinging back into the fight unfazed, but Kagero simply slapped the knife away from her hand, out of the window. Not that it mattered : The assassin clenched her other fist and swung it in perfect synchronization with her enemy, hitting each other in the face at about the same time. Both women took two steps backwards but then leapt back unto the fight as Kotaro's palace burned in the background.

…

Corrin's newfound gift of flight was obviously tricky to exploit, but he managed to use it to just take super-leap essentially. He couldn't really fly yet, but gliding was easy enough. After getting the lady to safety, he decided to go back and grab the unconscious masked man, hoping to at least be able to interrogate him. He wished to also at least capture the other ninjas inside, but he was rather shocked to discover that their throats had been slit while he was busy fighting off Saizo : This explained, without a doubt, why the masked man took a little while to join the fight.

Saddening as it was, Corrin couldn't shed tears for the corpses while the ninjas were spreading fire amongst the flames, and resolved to carry the mysterious man to the Nohrian building where he thought Xander and the others would be. Looking down, the situation seemed to be somewhat under control : The rat catchers below were using their spells to neutralize ninjas. Near the black building, purple orbs flew in the sky and zeroed in on enemy ninjas, coming down at them swiftly and either killing or stunning them for long enough to be skewered by the Nohrians or Mokushujins.

That said, there weren't many ninjas around the city. Most had been gathered in the palace it seems, and the others were just hoping to set things ablaze. Corrin landed next to Xander, who was ordering around a bunch of rat catchers. Camilla and Elise were out of sight, though he could see Leo effortlessly catching a ninja in mid-air with his influence over gravity. Some retainers were nearby, but the nearest people were mostly nameless soldiers. Selena was being especially active, slicing through ninjas at speed that matched Saizo's.

The young half-dragon's wings vanished as he landed close to Nohr's future king, and as a testament to his calm, the blond was only barely fazed by the sight of his brother magically dropping out of the sky.

"Corrin! I'm glad you're safe!" He said. "Who is this man?"

"He was next to Saizo, whom I suspect to be the commander of the attack. Kotaro… fell, unfortunately. And I wasn't able to get Saizo. However, this man seemed to be his right hand-man."

Xander sighed. "We need to chase off the ninjas first. We have them contained here. Let's move to retake the palace."

"Milord!"

A person in a large black cloak leapt from the shadows and knelt next to Xander. Their gender was hard to properly identify : The black uniform and cloak made it hard to really see their body type, and they had a black mask with a singular red line. Their identity became clear when she took off her mask to reveal a blue-eyed woman with short, slicked-back hair and rather prominent eyebrows.

"Zakuul." Said Xander. "What news are there to report?"

"We've driven off the invaders at the city but they are attacking our crops! We need your help!"

"Very well. Leo!"

"On it!" Said the youngest prince, charging out into battle. Zakuul put on her mask once more and departed to lead the royal and a few soldiers. Corrin wanted to warn Leo, thinking that this was a trap, but lowered his hand. His brother would certainly be preparing for such an opportunity after all.

"The fire is being controlled but we need to…" Xander glanced at Kotaro's building and simply blinked. "We need to also control it at Kotaro's palace."

Corrin turned around and was far less proficient at hiding his shock, noticing that Kotato's massive building was being set on fire… and also spotting an approaching Shura, still clothed in rags and visibly exhausted. Two Nohrians soldiers prepared themselves to intercept him, but Corrin was quicker to react and approached the outlaw. "Shura! What are you doing here?"

The Kohgajin took his time to recover his breath. "Just passin' by ki-is that the Crown Prince?"

"Yes." Answered the prince. "Why are you out of your cage, outlaw?"

"The kid visited me for interrogation with the murderous gal. A mass break-out ensued and I took his side." He said, glancing to the side.

"Where's Beruka?" Asked Corrin. Shura shrugged. "She and some Hoshidan dame had an honorable duel or something but she… she told me to go ahead and warn you. And I did."

"I-I see. We need to get to Beruka and try to tip the fight in her favor! She's fighting Ryoma's retainer, and I think that the whole attack was planned from the start. We could learn important information if we capture her again!"

Only Kagero could properly stalemate one as strong as Beruka after all.

"I see. That makes sense. We'll send out reinforcements for her."

"On it!" Said Selena, leaping away already. Charlotte followed her, and the three men didn't see fit to interrupt them. Shura did attempt to use the opportunity to slip away but Xander swiftly moved to block his path.

"Since you're so intent on helping us, outlaw. How about we make a deal? Assist us for the rest of this fight and you'll be freed." He said. "Try to leave though, and I cannot promise that your new cell will be much better than the one you left."

The outlaw glanced at Corrin, who secretly hoped that he wouldn't make much of a fuss. "Well, after careful consideration, I quite agree with the Nohrian rhetoric of… large-scale invasions and fire, so I'll-" Xander frowned. "I'll join you! Hoshido didn't help my country when it was in trouble."

"Good. Now, Corrin, let us assist Leo. I fear that quite a lot of enemies remain near the crops. The rest of you, handle the remaining fires and head for the palace! We'll discuss what to do once the ninjas are repelled and the fires are extinguished."

The prince looked shocked. He wanted to assist Beruka after all, who knew what could happen to her in the burning building? Corrin prepared to protest but Shura, unknowingly or not, stepped in to grab the unconscious man. "Here, you've been holding him for a while now."

"Y-yeah." Corrin shook his head. "I'll help Xander! Let's go!"

While Shura leapt back to put the man to safety (ninjas wouldn't have much remorse killing the unconscious leader to prevent valuable information leaks), Corrin, Xander and quite a few soldiers headed up north. The prince thought of his hesitation a little, but shook it off. He had a battle to dispute and… and Beruka could handle herself.

…

The punch sent her reeling directly into a wall, colliding it with hard enough to actually dent the wooden structure. Beruka had been hit rather hard, but she couldn't recover, not when Kagero was already leaping on her to try to pin her in place again. The assassin dodged to the side but was a bit too slow, owing to her recent slam, and her left arm ended up slammed against the wall as a result once more, causing her to let out a painful gasp.

Kagero, keeping her foe's arm in place, had less success with her second manoeuver, with Beruka ducking beneath her outstretched hand before kneeing Kagero right in the stomach. The shock threw the kunoichi forward and caused her to let go of Beruka's arm as she slammed into the wall. She didn't quite manage to pass through it though, so the retainer gave her a hand by shoulder-slamming her through it. Both women ended up blown through the wall and into the next room, briefly rolling along to the ground before stopping.

Kagero wheezed a little but began to climb back to her feet. The Nohrian assassin took a shorter amount of time to recover, already getting on all four, but beforehand she spat at the blood, causing a rather worrying amount of blood to escape her throat, and her tired eyes gleaned about two (no, three) teeth in the miniature puddle. The armored fighter wiped her mouth and got up, in time to duck beneath a punch and answer it with a fierce uppercut. Her enemy took two steps backward but countered with a jab straight to her right cheek, successfully hitting Beruka. Unlike the elite shinobi however, the woman stood her ground and her answer was night-instantaneous : A powerful punch to the guts! Kagero bent over and was promptly greeted by a knee to the face, a rather powerful way to set her up for yet another punch to the cheek. Once more, her recovery time was sub-par, and another punch successfully landed on her chin!

Aware of her dramatic situation, Kagero attacked with a strong punch but Beruka easily dodged it and struck her foe in the ribs to punish her for her desperate assault. Her knuckles hurt after all that punching, but she ignored the pain and punched again, keeping the offensive going. For once, the ninja seemed to truly be on the losing end, desperately attempting to fend off the punches. The last one sent her flying and sent her crashing near a table. Being out of options, she grabbed a chair, used another as a support while getting up, and swung horizontally, in a rather crude attempt to hit the Nohrian. However, her adversary simply ran, ducked beneath the blow, and tackled her into the table, wrecking it along with a few chairs. The shock was hard for both by this point, but the assassin, since she didn't exactly get the brunt of it, crawled on top of the ninja and prepared to punch her in the throat.

However, even with all that damage, Kagero wasn't down. Pooling all her strength into her next attack, the ninja grabbed her Nohrian enemy by the shoulder and attempted to bring her closer before headbutting at her. It was almost spiteful, like a last attempt at damaging her enemy rather than anything else, but on Beruka…

She had taken a lot of damage already, but yet this mere headbutt, born out of desperation, hurt her the most. More than Orochi's spells ever did. It felt two long gnarly hands were digging their long pointy nails in her head and trying to split it in two (and succeeding!), and she'd perhaps be underselling the pain a little. Regardless, Beruka's stance quickly changed as a result and before long she ended up struck herself, having to back away from her advantageous position. Kagero saw an opportunity, and leapt into the battle with renewed vigor.

The pain was too intense for her to deal with. She felt like her skull would shatter with every movement she'd make, and even lowering her hands to defend herself was painful. She clumsily punched but Kagero actually cut the chase and grabbed her arm before painfully driving her elbow down it. Pain coursed through the arm, but even that wasn't as bad as the injury in her head. Quickly, her mind attempted to elaborate a strategy, but Kagero launched an all out offensive, scoring many successful hits and pushing Beruka back, towards the door leading to some little platform outside.

A harsh punch landed on her jaw, and Beruka's eyes widened. Was she losing? N-no. That couldn't be, she couldn't…

Yet another impact to the head sent her reeling and memories began to play, playing with each impact.

"_Hope is the most powerful thing in these slums, little one."_ And a punch hit her in the cheek.

"_Killing means warmth…" _And a kick sent her sprawling to the ground. She attempted to get back on her feet, stunned as she was.

"_Wait, Beruka, wait!" _But a harsh hand grabbed her by the collar and she's put back on her feet, in time to get hit again.

"_You don't want to do this…"_ And another hit.

"_Come under my employ."_

She sees more memories of her various deeds, and Beruka realizes, slowly, that it's her own life flashing back before her very eyes. The realization that she's being beaten to death settle in fully but she's unable to react before the next punch send her directly leaning against the door leading to outside… and before yet another kick send her and the doors flying, with the latter being sent off her hinges.

Once more left on the ground, more memories flash back to Beruka as she attempts to desperately continue the fight. In spite of the blood coming off from under her bandana, or mouth or nose (not to mention the numerous cuts), she moved to get back up, somehow succeeding to use her non-broken arm to do this.

"_Beruka? Meet Selena, your new friend!"_

"_My poor Corrin, captured by those Eastern savages…"_

"_You two have been assigned to fend off an army heading to the north…"_

"_Girls, we'll be moving to Port Dia!"_

"_W-well, how could I help?"_

"_How do you do it? How do you kill someone without experiencing any troubles?"_

Her memories flashed forward again and again, just in time for her to finally get up, obviously exhausted and heavily-wounded, yet raring to go. She was standing on a small bridge between the house they fought in and another, which was seemingly empty. Below them, there was a dirt road. Beruka soon became very familiar with it when an unimpressed Kagero simply moved to kick her aside into the alley. It only by a miracle that she survived the fall, though even then, she was utterly spent : After landing, Beruka simply could barely summon the strength to move her fingers or slightly shift her feet, her eyes had gone white, and she was left to wallow in her pain, amidst the mud and rain. Kagero joined her quite quickly though and stepped forward, standing over her defeated foe, with an appropriately dark expression on her face. It wasn't triumph though, Beruka saw it when Kagero used her foot to roll the assassin on her back before kneeling next to her.

It was _pity_. She was being pitied. The idea that she would be overpowered was already inconceivable, but being shown _pity w_as even worse. Slowly, tears came to her eyes. Though they weren't necessarily caused by pain or sadness : She was just furious at the idea of being shown mercy after all she had done, especially by the one person who defeated her.

Kagero moved but instead of putting an end to her suffering, she just grabbed the bandana and took it off, slowly leaning backward to observe what laid beyond. The ninja had seen many things, but even she briefly looked shocked when Beruka's forehead scar was left bare : It was a horizontal slash grey wound, that looked rather gnarly even with the time that had passed. Blood was coming off it, and it had seemingly been reopened by her headbutt, showing just how deep the original wound had been. Beruka sobbed harder.

"N-no… you… don't… don't take it off…"

"A chink in your armor." Commented Kagero. "Had it not been for it, perhaps our positions would've been reversed." The woman looked down at the assassin. "What caused it?"

"I… I… I care not for your pity." Blurted Beruka, slowly. She had trouble speaking, because of the blood in her mouth and her general mindset. "You beat me and… took away my strength. Don't… don't take away my dignity…"

"… Very well. Let this be a mystery taken to the grave." Kagero, perhaps in a gesture of respect, tied the bandana back around the wound and observed the weeping assassin. "I thought that one in the business of death would see her fate fulfilled in a calmer fashion." She added.

Beruka spat blood on her face in answer. Kagero remained composed and briefly closed her eyes before getting up, standing above her defeated foe."You've fought very well. Orochi and Reina fell before a skilled enemy." She pulled out a small shuriken and held it above her head. "Now, let they be aven-"

Footsteps approached quickly though, and the tired retainer barely leapt to the roof of the closest building, her face twisting in fury. "Who dare?!"

"I do!" Answered Selena, protectively standing over the body of her fallen colleague. "You better back away, because this antisocial jerk is _my _antisocial jerk!"

Kagero's clenched fists shook in fury, and her earlier expression of grim serenity vanished entirely to make way for furor. Yet, she knew that she was too weak to fight on. Especially when Charlotted joined up : The blonde woman didn't bother with a snappy one-liner though, instead crouching over to Beruka. She winced briefly upon seeing the sheer damage and, in a surprisingly gentle manner, lifted her before putting her over her shoulder.

"W-why?" Croaked Beruka.

Charlotte smiled. "I still gotta find something for you to do." Answered the berserker. "You're not dying until then, jerk."

"No… no, I failed, I can't… I shouldn't, I… I…"

Whatever happened from now on, Beruka couldn't witness it. Her wounds and exhaustion caught up, and in the next instant, she was unconscious. The darkness settled in…

…

**N/A : **After a lot of talking, see this post, which is… mostly punching! And killing!

The next chapter will be a bit of a weirder one. Let's say that Beruka's memories are setting up what I'm about to write! I hope you'll like it, since it might be edgy at points, haha!

Zakuul shows up again and Shura become more or less a member of the Nohrian army. Looking forward to writing him some more. Did you know I wanted to have him killed on the boat? I guess changing my mind on that was pretty good!

Thank you for the reviews dark! Reviews keep me going, which is why I want to say a big "thank you" to romeoraiden, I always appreciate your reviews of my latest chapters and I want to thank you for that!

What did y'all think of the duel? Lemme know in reviews!

See ya next time!


	20. The Nohrian Darkness

The grey streets of the Windmire slums were as hostile as ever. Countless poor souls were roaming the streets, eyeing each other suspiciously and clutching whatever items they had available. From time to time, a Nohrian walked up to another, stabbed them with whatever sharp tools they had and took their fallen belongings before leaving. The other inhabitants of the slums didn't react, being unwilling to risk their hide. As a result, murder was surprisingly common and easy down there.

While adults were content to be alone, children could be found in smaller groups, in the hope that their numbers would scare away more sickly members of the slum. Children who were alone were either rejected from their "pack" or were the sole survivor of an attack on their group. This was the case of a small blue-haired girl, roaming through the streets with naught but rags and a torn cape to try to get herself warm. Fear was present on her face, but she tried not to set off anyone by directly looking at them, hoping that they wouldn't take it as a provocation.

Like all the survivors, she was desperately looking for another pack to frequent, being quite aware of just how vulnerable someone her age would be in Nohr's harsh setting. However, the other children already had too many mouths to feed or didn't think that one who has already lost her companions should deserve to join their group. This made her quite desperate, scuttling through the slums like a panicked little mouse as another murder happened close to her: The victim had dared to glance at her murderer for two seconds too long.

She clumsily twirled the little knife beneath her cape. She was ready to use it to defend herself but the idea of having to murder someone was still alien to her, even after spending about six years in the slums. Stealing, though, wasn't something she loathed at this point: She could see, in the distance, some bread in a basket next to a large man. He would've perhaps certainly liked to bring it "home", but he was currently facing a small pack of desperate kids, prompting him to put the basket behind him while he was in the middle of fending off the children.

The way "packs" approached adults was simple: The younger children would plead, and the older ones would gauge how distracted the adult was. Should the adult fail to be swayed (common in the slum, where empathy was more of a weakness), then the kids would attempt to swarm him before dispersing, with the few successful children taking as much as they could before scattering to reunite later with their fellows. Those who were caught when often freed when the adult proceeded to try to give chase, and could only hope that they wouldn't sustain injuries that would slow them down.

The "attack" could happen at any time, since the young Nohrians trained themselves to have small signs or noises that they could use to signal the "offensive" (there was a reason why most of those kids, if they survived, chose the army). Beruka approached at a rather quick pace as a result but then bolstered whatever strength her tired little body could manage to outright rush in and acquire a loaf of bread from the basket while the man was busy fending off the pack. While surprised, the adult was quick enough to turn around and attempt to punch Beruka in the face, though she barely dodged and leaped into a small alley. Her would-be chaser's attention refocused immediately on his remaining bread, since the pack jumped on it, but none of that mattered to the young girl: Now that she had acquired what she wanted, they might as well not exist to her.

Running and stumbling through the trash-covered alley, Beruka carefully attempted not to stumble on something sharp, having already seen quite a few thieves fall victim to such traps despite her young age. Once she was out of the alley, the small thief sat down to make herself as unnoticeable as possible and bite into the bread, daring to take things slowly for a change. She slowly chewed through each bite, aware that a golden opportunity like the one she had would probably not show itself for a while. She even briefly contemplated keeping half the bread around for consumption later, but this would've made her a target.

Beruka devoured the bread and took the time to look up at the dark sky overhead. The weather was so hellish that she never really knew when it was day or when it was night. At times, the temperature down in the slums was atrociously high, but it settled for the very opposite the rest of the time. The sky itself didn't interest her much though: Rather, she glanced at the tips of the buildings that she could perceive. Those towering structures that stood far above the slums always interested her. They served as her only real link to a world far away. This world that she only ever heard once or twice, from the mouth of some veterans or travelers who, either deliberately or by mistake, joined the slums and sometimes shared their stories to whoever would hear them.

They spoke of things that she couldn't believe. Entire lands covered in green. Immense rocks, far taller than the buildings she could see, made out of rock and not by man's hand. A clear sky illuminated by a radiating orb. Food aplenty, various non-human beings that either dwelled on land or within the "sea", which she understood to be a mind-staggeringly large amount of water at the same place. All those things were alien to her, who only knew of the grey decadence of the slums, and she often dared to sneak out at night to interrogate a story-teller, eager to be taken, if only for an instant, beyond the squalor where she grew up in.

She wished, someday, to do that for real. She would gather enough money to make her way out and, once done, she'd travel and would see the entire world. Then, once done, she'd settle in a green land, in a quiet house, and would… would… Beruka frowned. She never really imagined what a peaceful life looked like. Even when her parents ferried her around, she was always on the move.

And ever since they abandoned her, the necessity of moving around had become more pressing. And speaking of that, she had been sitting still for about two minutes: A death sentence down there. Finishing her bread, Beruka got up and wrapped her cape around her shoulders, shivering at the cold. Now that she had been fed, perhaps she should seek shelter? Yes, this made sense. Beruka took a few steps forwards and then stopped when she heard a moan, a few meters away from her.

Turning aside quickly, the young child let out a surprised gasp when she noticed a shambling figure close to her. It was a tall yet decrepit woman, thin as a stick, and dressed in rags that were torn at a few spots, revealing a stomach so thin that she could see her ribs. Her long dirty hair covered her face but she could see two blue bloodshot eyes glare daggers at the younger Nohrian. Her face was dirty and bruised but she managed to stagger out a smile, revealing that some of her teeth had fallen off (either because of decay or because of a previous brawl). The woman was shivering, and was vainly trying to keep herself warm with her long arms.

"Your cape… give it to me…"

The woman smiled, perhaps in an attempt at looking friendly, but her attempt at an affable expression only made her creepier. And she must have been aware of that, because shortly afterward, it promptly made way for a wrathful expression, and the woman dug into her pocket to reveal a shank. It was about as dirty and fragile as its owner, but Beruka's eyes nonetheless widened in fear and she took two steps backward.

"No… can't do…" She muttered. Being abandoned at an early age and then spending most of her time in a pack didn't do wonder for her vocabulary, and she only really learned the basics to communicate. Unluckily enough, "can't do" had the unfortunate effect of easily set off the habitants of the slums, and the woman promptly put an end to the fragile negotiations by howling and running right at Beruka like a demented animal, moving with far, far too much swiftness for one has sickly as her. The young girl screamed and quickly began running away, hanging unto her cape.

She could just let it go but in the cold, whatever little comfort it could bring was vital, and she didn't know if she could so easily acquire another cape. But, looking back, the woman was quite eager to get to it, almost stumbling a few times in her mad quest to try to acquire it. Beruka was sure that giving up the cape wouldn't slow the woman down. So, she focused on the road in front of her, vainly trying to throw some objects in the way. The woman deftly avoided them though, or fell but immediately crawled back to her feet before resuming the chase.

Thin and unhealthy as she was, she was still an adult, and desperation empowered her, allowing her to break past her limits to continue the chase even when she looked too weak to even walk for five minutes. She would eventually tire out, but not before catching up to Beruka, who was too young to properly escape an adult. The orphan was particularly aware of this, and opted not to run down the alley that would lead her into the street. The woman would catch up to her before she could blend amongst the crowd and the people on the street wouldn't do anything to help her, despite her age.

So, she turned to the left and leaped above two small crates leading to a small alley, hoping that they would lead to an escape. To her horror though, Beruka had picked the wrong place: A wall stood at the end of it, with only a wooden door to the side leading to a building. The young child prepared herself to head back but the woman was already far too close for her to flee, so Beruka began to run down the alley, hoping that the woman would give up the chase or that the door would be open. Relying on the compassion of another Nohrian to potentially survive was foolish, and even she knew that, but what else did she have?

Beruka gathered her remaining stamina and ran across the alley, in an attempt to reach the door as soon as possible. She felt something dig painfully into her dirty left foot but sheer desperation pushed her to ignore it. When something cold dug into her right foot, she also kept looking forward. Behind her, the woman was already past the crates and following her, blood spurting from her feet without causing her the slightest pause. Whatever conscience was left in the woman saw the wall, and she grinned in triumph, holding up her shank. The young girl reached the wooden door and attempted to batter away at it with her left fist, while pulling out her knife.

"HELP!" She said. "LET ME! PLEASE!"

No answer. No one was behind that door or they simply couldn't care less about the tragedy happening right underneath their nose. Beruka bashed the door again but found no answer, forcing her to back off in fright. The woman was only a few meters away from her now, shank brandished, eyes bloodshot, mouth torn in a vicious grin despite the pain. By now, she probably didn't even care about the cape. Beruka considered climbing the wall for the smallest seconds but even if glass shards weren't popping out of the sole of her feet, she wouldn't be able to climb the wall in time before being caught by the woman.

Beruka painfully made her way to the bottom of the wall (digging the glass just a bit deeper) and knelt, holding up her knife. "Go away!" She yelled. "Dangerous!" The woman ignored her and raised her shank, intending to drive it straight into her heart. Beruka had seen such madness before but against different people. Her eyes widened with fear and her knife trembled seconds before impact!

"Stop!"

The decrepit Nohrian lunged forward and stabbed, but missed badly, hitting the wall and breaking her weapon on contact. Beruka was far more accurate, though unwittingly so: By leaping, the woman slammed the knife's blade straight into her demented visage, causing her diving scream to instantly make way for silence. The woman died immediately, perhaps owing to her fragility, her dead face stuck in a horrendous expression of surprise. Beruka stared at her, horrified at what she had done, and pulled the knife out before throwing the blood-soaked weapon away in disgust.

"You… you fine?" She said, the corpse weighing on her knees. She had seen death but never inflicted it. Mad at the woman was, her condition was nonetheless pitiable and the young girl saw no triumph in her victory over her. And not because the glass shards stuck deep in her flesh ensured that she was going to have severe trouble navigating around those cutthroats streets. She took a life, and it felt… odd. Her young mind could barely comprehend the idea of ending another life. Of being responsible for someone else's demise directly.

No Nohrians would be bothered by that. It was in self-defense, but Beruka still found herself weeping out of shock and sadness, grasping her attacker's face and pressing her forehead against it. "Sorry… am sorry…" She barely articulated, sobbing some more. The travelers spoke of a place where people went after death, and somewhere in her, the newfound murderer wished that it existed, if only so that people like this woman could find some solace after a lifetime of trouble.

Then, she just gave up. She couldn't move, her blood was seeping through the wounds on her feet, she lacked the mental strength to even consider walking away and she had thrown her weapon away. All she could do was stare at that harsh sky, the same one she was born under and the same one where she would perhaps die under. Heavy thoughts for one as young as her to have, but life in the slums forced one to become precocious fast, lest they never even grow up.

Then, she heard the sound of glass being crushed and lowered her head, almost yelling in fright when she noticed a figure approaching them. Her will to live overrode her previous quiet acceptance of her incoming demise and she began to reach for her weapon, in an attempt to defend herself, but the figure was faster, effortlessly reaching the weapon and taking it away from her. Bringing the bloodied knife to his face, the mysterious man now standing before her calmly observed the blade and then pocketed it.

Unusually for an inhabitant of the slums, he was clean. His skin was smooth and devoid of dirt or blemishes, his face was shaven and he had neck-length curly brown hair. His eyebrows were thin, and he looked relatively handsome and youthful, though she couldn't precisely identify his age. He looked bored at the carnage in front of him at first but then, he smiled, in a manner that demonstrated the whiteness of his teeth. This surprised Beruka, who had never seen such a clean person in her life.

He had a gray long-sleeved buttoned shirt, black pants and, notably, proper shoes, explaining just how he managed to make his way through the alley. He looked pretty but his smile was… odd. She couldn't quite explain why, but the way he showed his teeth made it look very insincere. Or perhaps it was the fact that he even smiled at all in the presence of a corpse laid on the knees of a wounded child?

"Did you kill her?" Beruka shook her head to say yes. "Awww, you poor little thing." His smile didn't drop, though his tone was sweet, and with one hand he grabbed the corpse by the hair before casually throwing her away, landing amongst the trash in an undignified manner. The very same hand that he just used was then presented to Beruka, invitingly. "Well I guess that was an obvious question. Anyway, would you like to leave this place?"

"P-place? The slums?"

"Mmmmmaybe not now but for later." He said, tilting his head to look at her. "But I can take care of those nasty shards in your feet and give you everything a poor little orphan needs."

Even she could tell that he was untrustworthy, but life was offering her a way out, and the idea of leaving the slums was tempting. True, perhaps this was all a lie. An attempt at roping an innocent child into partaking in some dark scheme, but she was desperate and in pain: She would still accept his offer even if he were a big red horned devil. Her cold, tiny shaking hand grasped his, and he used his other hand to grab her waist before lifting her off her feet, holding her like how a father would hold his child. It was strangely comforting, perhaps because she's never truly been held like this before.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"You'll learn soon enough." He said, as he began to make his way across the alley. She had more questions in mind, but was so exhausted that, despite the horrible pain at her feet, she promptly fell asleep, somewhat smelling his perfume before doing so…

…

Beruka slowly came to her senses, blinking about ten times before finally getting up. She pre-emptively winced, expecting to feel some severe pain on her feet, but was shocked to find none. Getting up, she prioritized finding out why she felt no pain over identifying her surroundings and looked down. To her surprise, her feet were fine. Some bandages were present (and it hurt a little when she pressed on them with her finger) but when she began walking, she felt fine. The very opposite of someone who ran in an alley full of dangerous sharp trash.

The room she was in was, above all things, warm. That's what took her by surprise. The warmth. It's mundane, perhaps, but warmth was a privilege in the slums. Mages with access to a fire tome would fiercely defend their kindles from whoever would dare to try to sleep next to them, and sometimes, a Nohrian who had all but given up liked to extinguish the kindles in the slums, in a spiteful attempt at dragging others into their despair. Sometimes, sleeping around a fire resulted in one's belongings being stolen by a thief, or resulted in death at worst. Warmth was easy as a pack, since the children could cuddle together, but as a loner, it was hard for the young child to be anything else but cold.

It would go without saying that the sheer amount of warmth came as a surprise to Beruka, and she very quickly got up to look for its source. The room she was in was white, almost to the point of looking sterile, but everything apart from the chimney may as well not exist from her point of view. Her purple eyes focused on the large fire within it: It was separated away from her via an iron barrier, in a wise attempt to prevent her from accidentally harming herself by getting too close to it, but she could still see it dancing inside its prison, in a way that was almost alluring to her. The young orphan scooted closer to the flames and sat down closer. She wouldn't mind never moving from her spot until the day of her death.

It was like a soft caress. Different from anything she had ever felt until now, different from winter's harsh bite or the constant feeling of having to watch over her shoulder. She almost bathed in the sensation, wishing that she would never be separated from it again. And, for a solid ten minutes, it was nothing but her and the flames, in harmony… Then, someone knocked at the door, pulling her out of her reverie. The wooden door opened slightly to reveal the man.

"You should dress up now." He said. "We've got things to discuss with."

Beruka's attention focused back on the room. It was white and spacious, with a wooden table with a rug below and a large grey bed, with some clothes on it. The small girl glanced at the pile of clothing and turned to look at her savior, but he shook his head. "I'm not a freak." He said, shaking his head. "Veronica already helped with cleaning you up."

Beruka's eyes widened a little and she glanced downward, only somehow now noticing that she was clean. Her skin was smooth of dirt and marks, causing her to look at it in puzzlement. The door closed and Beruka decided to put on the clothes, getting rid of her rags while doing so. Her new clothes were still pretty… basic, but they were in a far better state than those old rags that she just took off. It didn't look like much but compared to what she was wearing, those clothes were high-class. She also put on some shoes, and having her feet encased felt weird for her.

Upon putting them on, Beruka walked out of the room (albeit reluctantly) and could see, outside, that there was naught but the same sterile white halls. The warmness was present everywhere, and she slowly made her way over to a room in the right. She slumped forward while walking, being too used to that kind of stance to walk confidently. Her cautious body language, however, vanished quickly when she reached a room with a table full of various kinds of foods the likes of which her mind wouldn't even have been able to envision. She could see fruits (a very rare food in Nohr), but also well-cooked meat, clean water and plenty of dishes that she couldn't name but was eager to try out.

The odd man was standing at the other side of the table, and so did a teenage woman with a mask made out of black cloth. She didn't question it and simply began to eat, leaping unto a wooden chair and shoving as much food as she could into her mouth. The man chuckled, but the woman offered no reactions, though her eyebrows furrowed in disgust a little. The future assassin couldn't care less about her opinions though, and continue to drink and eat to her heart's desire. It tasted miles better than the bread that she occasionally nabbed, and she couldn't even believe that those delicacies would be even in her reach to consume. It was almost a dream come true to her. And this was perhaps why the man waited, since he knew that his words would fall upon deaf ears.

Eventually, Beruka stopped, though she yearned to continue her feast. Her small body, which was used to consume a lesser amount of food, could not digest what she just ate. As a result, the young girl stopped herself mid-eating and put her hands in front of her mouth, a few seconds away from paying the man for his kindness by unfurling her meal at his feet. Luckily, she held back, only getting away with some coughing. Seeing this, the man moved to seize the occasion.

"Now now." He said. "You're one hungry little bug, aren't you?" Beruka looked up at him, in surprise, and mumbled a timid "Yes."

He took a bite of some of the food and wiped his mouth politely, while looking down at her. Beruka observed him and then took the white napkin near her plate before clumsily imitating his movement, simply smearing it further on her lips. Sighing, the woman got up from her seat and properly wiped her mouth. Or would have, if Beruka didn't instinctively back off in fear: Allowing one to get close, when they weren't from the pack, was a great way to feel a cold blade penetrate one's flesh. However, as swift as she was, the orphan lacked the skills to properly use it, and the younger woman easily grabbed her by the wrist. And the little survivor's reaction was swift.

"NO! NO! NO! NO!" She yelled, vainly attempting to run away from the stranger's hard grip. The woman's strength proved too much for her to fend off however, and the mysterious assistant simply wiped her mouth and then sat her at the table, all while Beruka kept screaming into her ears. Seeing that her scream wasn't having the desired effect, she eventually stopped and just turned towards the assassin, her face still twitchy. He just chuckled, as if ignoring what he said.

"Don't worry, kid. You've got friends here." He said. "Who are you?"

Beruka raised her mouth to speak but then froze. She didn't exactly remember her name. Only her parents knew. The grey dredges of her memories gave her a name, that came back sometimes, but it was cloudy. Eventually though, a single name popped up…

"B-Beruka…" She said. He clapped once in answer. "Very Nohrian!" He praised. "Well, Beruka, what do you think of this place?"

The young girl looked around. "… Good." She said. He briefly looked surprised but then remembered something. "Ohhh, you can't talk much, can't you?" And on that, he was right. Beruka just nodded. "Well, I'll explain it simply. You like that?"

He pointed at the food. She nodded. Then, silently, at a fireplace and she nodded even more. Then, finally, at her clothes. Once more, her answer as positive. The mysterious individual rose from his seat and waked next to Beruka before kneeling next to her.

"If you want, I can teach you things." He gestured. "Writing. Talking. You understand, right?" She just nodded again. "Hm, not much of a talker, are you? Good. Well, this can all be yours if you just promise me one thing…" And his smile turned predatory again, but it was like he didn't want it to do that. Like even his attempt at a genuine smile felt forced and unreal. And she didn't know if he wanted it to be that way or if he was trying to reassure her. So the young child shyly shook her head. He made a genuine smile, stood up and then, as casually as one could, handed her a knife.

It was relatively sharp with a red handle, but it was also pretty easy to conceal. She studied the weapon a little and turned to look at him. "What?"

"There's a sleeping hobo nearby." He said. "I really can't stand up the sound of him digging through my trash at night and the smell… Oh. Kill him, and you'll get to have everything you want. Warmness. Food. A bed. A future, even."

Beruka's face grew shocked and she shook her head. "No." She said. Her overwhelming new conditions couldn't help her forget the face of the slain woman, and she shook her head, repeating herself. "No."

"No?" He said, before chuckling. "No? Ahhh. You think that this is… deal, right?" She would've liked to answer yes, but before she could, he rose and grabbed her by the arm as harshly as he could, pulling her off the bench. Once more, she cried in pain and surprise, but once more those screams fell into deaf air. Casually lifting her, he grabbed the knife and began to head down the hall, his smile replaced by an emotion of casual annoyance. Once he reached the door, Beruka's eyes bore witness to a random alley from the slum, and she quickly became acquainted with its cold street once again.

Gone was the warmth and the feeling of ease. She was, once more, back into the cold street. Before she could get up, her weapon fell into the ground with a quick "clang" sound, and the man simply began to close the door. "Kill the hobo before night falls or you're back to the streets." He said, before shutting the door in her face. Beruka grasped the weapon and looked to the left and right: Indeed, an old bearded man was sleeping in a bunch of trash. He was sitting amongst a bunch of trash, and had taken to wear some of the trash on him against the cold.

Beruka winced, considered her weapon and pocketed it. The sun was up, so she still had some hours. The man perhaps intended for her to do it quickly, and for a little while, she hesitated before… walking away. She missed the warmth but she didn't want to kill anyone else. Wound, maybe, but not kill. The young girl meant to walk down the street firmly, but found herself more reluctant to leave than she wanted to. It had been the first time that she felt good in a while… Was she just going to give it all up for the life of an old man who didn't care about her? The young child frowned. Yes, all life was precious. She couldn't put someone else's existence under her own.

Beruka walked out into the streets in time to witness another stand-off between a man, carrying some food in a basket, and a pack of kids. As usual, the children were standing in front of the Nohrian or, more accurately, circling him. He didn't look very worried though, annoyed, perhaps, but his smile quietly grew as the younger children attempted to bait him into giving away the food that he had in the basket. Then, with great swiftness, the man whistled using two fingers.

Out of the crowd, about two more adults leaped out, grabbing two of the children each and slamming them into the cold pavement. The "leader" of the pack also struck one in the face with a punch, causing Beruka to recoil in horror. The children who hadn't been struck immediately ran away, to the visible despair of their comrades. The three adults didn't seem willing to chase them though, being content with their catch. Several of the children screamed but no one in the crowd had stakes in the whole encounter, and the aggressors remained eerily calm despite the noises and their actions. They simply dug into their pockets, pulled out whatever good they could find and, in those cases, simply let the kids go.

"That one doesn't have anything valuable on him, boss." Said one of the adults to the boss. All three men were thin, with long beards, tired eyes and pale skin. "Take him, we'll figure out a use for him." Said the "boss". The underling hoisted the crying kid over his shoulder and all three walked out as if nothing happened. These men almost reminded Beruka of that nightmarish woman from earlier, and the memory alone was enough to get her to head back into the alley, running away from the scene urgently. She ran and ran until she took another alley, leading to yet another part of the street.

The cold was biting, and Beruka glanced down at her clothes. While she wasn't exactly dressed like a noble, Beruka still looked regal compared to the usual inhabitant of the slums. If she stayed here for too long, it was likely for her to get mugged and, since she had nothing useful on her person besides a knife, she would likely end up like that poor kid…

The young kid shook her head and simply held her arms, shivering slowly. Without her cape, the situation was just a little bit more unbearable… But still, the child refused to sacrifice someone else so she could live. Then, she began to walk, and it took her about two hours to realize that she was walking in a circle. She never outright left the place close to the man's house. Some smoke could be seen escaping two chimneys on its roof, and she reminded herself of the warmness that she felt inside, in contrast to the bitter cold that she felt.

She looked at the crowd once more and saw yet another murder. A man approached another, stabbed him, and made off with his loot. It used to be a common sight for her, but her brief experience of comfort made it even more outrageous to watch. Was she truly giving up a comfortable life to stay here? There was no future for her in those slums. Fate had smiled on her once, but eventually, there would be another encounter like the crazed woman's, and she would be left wounded and alone in those merciless streets.

"This old man would snap your neck without flinching if it could lead him out of here." Whispered a voice to her. "Kill him."

Beruka shook her head and sat down. But to her surprise, the dilemma was lesser than what she thought it would be. Her body yearned for that warm temperature and everywhere she looked, her mind saw no future. She would eventually become a corpse, or just another rotten adult barely scraping by. There was an opportunity for her to rise above that and, maybe, leave the slums for good and she was denying it? Of course, killing is bad, but that selfishness from earlier took over again.

The young child awaited, sighed, and then got up before calmly heading back towards the man in the alley. She wished there could've been a sign that it was all done reluctantly, but from the point of view of an outsider, the whole thing was done with disturbing efficiency given her age. She walked up to the man, who was still sleeping, pulled out her knife and quickly dug it into his chest multiple times. He woke up quickly but only for a second: His eyes glazed over and, after barely moving his hands to cover his chest, the old man fell aside, barely summoning the strength to moan before passing away. Beruka stood, knife bloody, and felt tears run down her cheek as she crouched over him and closed his eyes using her fingers.

"I'm sorry." She said, to the man. "Sorry… Sorry…" Repeated the child. She felt like she had crossed a threshold. Like her life had taken a pivotal point, and while she hoped that she would eventually be able to just get away from the violence, she had the disturbing feeling that she would experience a lot of it before being able to do so. The young child wiped her tears and headed towards the wooden door, trying to reassure herself all the while. The poor old man probably knew that such a fate awaited him, given his age, but it was still very upsetting to her.

Beruka knocked on the door and took two steps back. The man opened it, though barely at first, and only opened it further when he noticed that she was holding a bloody knife, though he quickly took it. He then silently headed to the alley, noticed the corpse and headed back for the young child, kneeling to her right before… hugging her. A bit too surprised, she accepted the hug.

"Now that's my kid." He said. "I thought you'd hesitate a bit more but that's good! Come on now, it's a bit cold outside!" Beruka simply quietly entered and, when he closed the door, sighed in relief when she felt the heat wash over her.

"Well, kiddo. You've passed the test!" He said. "You'll have to do some more, for sure, but…" With a dramatic arm movement, he pointed at her room. Curious, she advanced and her somewhat mournful expression changed into one of wonder. Food and water had been placed at a table near the fire (in enough quantity not to make her sick) and the warmth was back. Beruka almost leaped at it, but before she could do so, she felt a hand grip her shoulder.

"From now on. I'm going to teach you how to fight, how to speak, maybe read." He chuckled to himself. "And you'll do as I said. That's fair, yes?"

The young child smiled, her brain doing its best to erase the nastier bits, and with that, she was sent off freely to sit and dine near the flames. She couldn't help but feel a pang of disgust as she eagerly dug into the food and began to eat. But yet, it was a small voice, lost amongst a cacophony of newfound joy. She bathed in the warmth, absorbed new tastes and, for once as an orphan in Nohr, ate and drank until she felt full. This prompted her to lay on her back, close to the fire, and just close her eyes, preparing to take a nap.

And she did, for about three hours, before she felt herself being tugged. Instinctively, Beruka lashed out with her arm, as if intending to strike the target, but the person who woke her up easily countered the blow: It was that girl at the table. Looking closely at her, she had white skin around her eyes. But otherwise, she wore a concealing black suit, making it hard to identify her. She quietly let go of the young woman after grabbing her arm, and Beruka simply looked up at her, with her big bright purple eyes.

"What?" She asked.

"Your bath. Come."

…

Bathing wasn't so uncommon in Nohr. All the big cities had public bathrooms and the nobles had their own. Only the peasants in the countryside struggled with the clean water, owing to their less-than-ideal living conditions. Well, them and the people in the Nohrian slums. Not everyone was dirty but those who dwelled in the streets tended to lack the means to properly clean themselves and, in most cases, had concerns beyond hygiene, such as not dying or starving.

As a result, Beruka felt odd in the wooden tub, daring to let only her head peek around the water. Being surrounded by water (hot at that) felt odd to her, and she caught herself splashing the surface with her hand, giggling a little. A familiar hand stopped her movement though.

"Enough." Said the woman, and Beruka stopped. She was pretty bored, owing to not being able to move much: Her head was put against the lined cloth put around the tube's border, put here so that she wouldn't get herself stung with a splinter. Her long dirty blue hair was being carefully washed by the older Nohrian, who somewhat struggled with getting rid of all the dirt and crass inside. The young girl wasn't aware of it yet, but the basin behind her, used to clean her hair, had turned black. It was to the point where eventually, the adolescent let go of the young child and took the basin. At this point, the water was too dirty to be any of proper use. Beruka observed her curiously, not daring to get out.

"… Who you?"

"Wendel." Answered the girl. She opened a window, threw the water away, and closed it just before an unfortunate man outside could begin a barrage of insults. Then, she went to get herself some water, coming back after a few minutes. The assassin wondered where she had managed to acquire clean water, but she had other concerns at the moment.

"Why face…" She gestured to try to make the shape of a mask. "I have some things to hide." Answered Wendel, working on the hair again.

Beruka awaited. "You ugly?" She asked, innocently. Wendel stared at her and allowed the slightest smirk to appear on her face. "You're lucky you're not older." She said. "Well, yes, I am ugly though."

"Can I see?" Continued Beruka. "No." Said Wendel, dropping that bit of levity that she had picked up seconds ago. The orphan took that as a sign that the discussion was temporarily over… And promptly got bored again, inspiring her to engage another discussion. "You know nice man?"

Wendel went silent and picked up some scissors before cutting Beruka's hair, leaving her with her short, recognizable bob. The young girl yelped in surprise and checked her new haircut. "That'll prevent people from grabbing it." Said Wendel, offering her a minor. "A wild mane isn't useful in the line of work. And no. Mr. Goulet isn't a nice man."

Beruka just threw a sorrowful look at her discarded hair and then pondered on Wendel's answer. As much as one as young as the Nohrian could, though. "But he helped me…"

"Not because he wanted to." Said Wendel. "No one helps another because they want to. It's… not a Nohrian thing. He saw some potential in you." She began to rub the top of Beruka's hair with a towel, prompting her to groan in surprise and indignation. Once done, she pulled her out of the bath, dried her off and had her put on the same clothes as before. "And he'll use it."

Beruka contemplated her words and yawned. What had happened today had been most tiring, physically and mentally, and she found herself now disinterested in the topic that she started. "Where he?"

"On business." Said Wendel. "You should sleep now."

"Ok… night!" And Beruka simply crouched to the comfortable red floor. Wendel quickly caught her before she could start to sleep however. "What are you thinking? We sleep on beds here."

"Bed?" The teenager groaned and, with more gentleness than before, escorted her to her room and led her to her bed. "You sleep on that. Not the floor. Goodnight." And she went out, to take care of the tub. "Goodnight." Repeated Beruka, before stepping on the bed. Upon reaching its surface, she found herself overwhelmed at just how soft it was, and promptly fell asleep on a pillow. She had much to think about, starting with her two murders, but the warmness of her room, the comfortableness of the bed and her exhaustion all teamed up together to make her fall asleep in a manner that a hibernating bed would envy.

She couldn't help but think that killing gave her that. She had suffered by being an opportunistic thief, but somehow, becoming a murderer had saved her. Her empathy still told her that it was bad, but as she allowed the Nohrian spirit of rest to take his due, she couldn't help but put those two words together.

Killing means warmth.

…

"Goulet", as he was called, was harsh yet fair. He trained her to speak well and taught her how to hunt and assassinate. Her knowledge of the slums made it even easier for her to sneak around and perform her dark duties, though it took her a while before she took on bigger targets.

As far as she knew, he was a contractor of high grade. Important people in important clothes went right to him and asked him to carry out tasks, and he'd vanish for days, weeks perhaps, before coming back, usually with a generous amount of money, which he used to… remain here, in the miserable slums of Nohr, when he could easily afford a high-class home anywhere else.

This confused Beruka, and a day, after a quiet teaching session, she decided to ask him the question, pulling down her book and leaning over it. She had been toughened by the years now, but was still innocent enough to ask, with a high pitched voice… "Misteerrrrr?"

He glanced at her. "Yes, Beruka?"

"Why do you stay here? We could just leave." She said. "And go somewhere else." He didn't answer quickly, and just sighed before getting up. Beruka recoiled a little, but he didn't move to slap her, instead tapping her on the head. "Aww, Beruka. You're still wonderfully naïve." He said. "We're here because I want to. It's simple, isn't it?"

Beruka tilted her head to the left and he sighed. "I could move anywhere else in the world, yes. But it doesn't interest me. Hoshido is… too soft and weak. Heh, you can't even have ill thoughts in it, you know? There's a spell that just." He gestured to his head. "Makes you stop thinking that."

"A-aww…"

"And everywhere else just doesn't interest me… Say. Beruka, here's a question. Why do you think I chose to live here? Why am I denying the opulent opera of Cyrkensia or the safety of Macarath and inhabiting this squalor that the sun won't ever rise?"

She gave it a thought. "Money… easier?"

He laughed but the next tap was a bit harsher, causing her to wince. "Ahaha, you're going to be a very rich woman later! Well, there's that. You know, not a lot of people are born there." He said. "Some of the people here were placed there, because they ran out of money or because their political rivals wanted them humiliated instead of killed… and, heh, changed their mind."

He moved away, putting his hands behind his back. "A lot of people, like you, are born into these miserable circumstances. They have to take care of themselves very early on, and are far more capable of surviving at age 7 than many Hoshidans are in their adulthoods." He said. "And this helps me with getting apprentices."

"Apprentices?"

"You deaf?" He asked, though his "friendly" question was a bit more aggressive than he perhaps intended it be. "Like you or Wendel. See. I like to pick up kids like you because you haven't given up like those losers outside. You're filled with hope, and hope is the most powerful thing in these slums, little one. Think: What caused you to crawl through the blood-soaked mud? And what caused you to keep going days after days in that cesspool? Hope. You hope to eventually get to explore the world and settle down, so you power through whatever stands in your path, no matter how terrible it is, to reach your goal."

Beruka never thought of it this way, but perhaps, in a twisted way, she could see his point.

"The hope of getting to sleep in that warm room, doesn't that motivate you every time you're reintroduced to these cold streets? Isn't that the reason why you're even killing? Hope. It's what allows you to summon the strength to propel yourself. It's too bright of a concept for the adults to realize though." He sneered, disdain in his voice. "They just sit here and steal some bread without thinking about what to do next. And the nobles!" He raised his hands before slamming them on his hips, looking up at the sky. "They're so haughty! They never had to hope for anything because they can get anything! There's no struggle to reach for your dream!"

He eventually calmed down. "Well, and also, Nohrian kids are young and impressionable. Well, kids in general are. It's easy to convince them to do things, but everyone else in this country is too proud or pig-headed to accept a suggestion." He added. "Anyway, I've ranted enough. There's a target that I'd like for you to take out. It's a simple contract." He said, walking over to his desk and almost shoving the white paper into her hands. A man with a rather thuggish face was drawn on the upper corner of the letter.

"Take care of him." He ordered. Beruka nodded and got up, aware that he wouldn't talk to her until she was done. Nodding politely, she headed out, putting a small cape around her purple uniform for the sake of warmth before heading out into the familiar squalor again.

She wouldn't fail, she thought. Or, well, she hoped she wouldn't.

…

She had failed.

The target had about four bodyguards, and Beruka just couldn't manage to get past them. The man was paranoid after all, and each of the bodyguards saw no problem pushing away or threatening whoever tried to get close. Seeing that she couldn't hope to do any progress, she had opted to back off. Perhaps she could attempt at a later date, but it seemed that approaching alone was a bit too difficult.

However, Goulet was an observant man, and as soon as she opened the door to enter, he was standing in front of her, with his usual smirk on his face. Softly, he reached out to grab her hand and check her knife, briefly glancing at it before looking at her right in the eyes. "Beruka… oh, I don't think you were very successful, were you?"

She shook her head. "There's too many." She said, closing the door. His hand shot forward and grabbed the door though, and kept it open. His other hand moved to grasp her by the cheek and he chuckled. "Beruka, a good assassin doesn't give up." He assured. "There's always a weakness, and I'm sure that you'll be able to find and exploit it. Now go back out there and show him who's boss!"

"But… I can't. He's too wary."

"Hm, it looks like you need some more motivation then." He said. His hand moved away from her cheek and he got right back up. "How about: "You can't return until they're dead"? I won't have one of my pupils take a contract and back away. My reputation would be at stakes!" He said. "As long as the target stands on his two feet, you're not allowed here. Enough of a motivator?"

Beruka gasped and moved in to protest, but he simply brought his hand up, and she quickly backed away, recognizing the gesture. She quickly left and closed the door before sighing, wondering just how she was going to do it. The young assassin walked to get down the street but was surprised when a shadow dawned on her, and soon, Wendel was walking next to her, clad in a long black cape with a black hood.

"Stuck on a difficult contract, huh?" She said, stopping at the alley to avoid openly talking about such things in a crowd. Most people dodged the alley leading to Goulet's house. The man was feared across Nohr, or so he said.

"Yeah…" Answered Beruka.

"How about I help you then?" She proposed. Beruka glanced at her in surprise. "For this one time." She clarified, and Beruka nodded with an excited smile. "I've scoped them out. I know where they're headed, follow me."

The slums were as bad as ever, but a lot of the healthier adults and even the older kids were conscripted into the army. According to Goulet, the King had done something "very nasty" that caused another country to become upset, so Nohr had decided to hire more people into the army. This didn't mean that the slums were any less dangerous, but things were… quieter. It made it easier for assassins at least.

"Alright, move up this building and wait. I'll distract the guards, and you'll shoot him in the head while his action is focused on me."

"A-alright!" Answered Beruka. With agility, she swiftly moved up a building, using the tiny cracks along its façade and her speed to accomplish her feat before Wendel was even in place. A necessity, since the cloaked assassin moved into range. Down the street, indeed, there stood a large man, with a sizable scar on his face, and about four thugs circling him. The central man's imposing demeanor rather badly hid his limp though, and he looked almost worried whenever one of his lackeys intercepted someone. Those lackeys were, for the most part, much younger and aware, constantly observing every spot, even from above, and keeping a careful, intimidating glare on whoever dared to approach their boss.

Beruka peeked slightly from above, out of a window in a decrepit building. Wendel made her approach quickly, but one of the thugs noticed her and carefully pulled a small knife out of his pocket. So did Beruka, unwittingly to those below, though her weapon looked like a miniature tomahawk more than anything. Easily capable of killing a man, but fragile compared to even the common sword wielded by the average Nohrian. It would be unwise to use it to directly fight the guards, but luckily, her senior assassin took care of it just fine. In a movement too swift for her to follow, she grabbed the man's arm and hit him at a special spot with two fingers, causing him to scream in pain before she flipped him over her shoulder and threw him to the floor. This distracted the others just enough that, for a split second, the attention was on her. And the young assassin struck, hurling her weapon and striking the target right on the head.

"A-above!" Yelled one of the thugs, their attention shifting again, to Wendel's benefit. Thinking quickly, the assassin kicked one thug into the others, tore the bloodied weapon out of the target's head, and fled. Beruka did the same thing, and the thugs perhaps gave up the chase early, not wishing to end up killed or wounded after their boss had already been killed. Beruka and Wendel both followed their different paths before they reunited near Goulet's house.

"Thank you so m-" Beruka was surprised when Wendel put her hand on her mouth. "Shh." She said. "Just announce that you've done it."

The smaller assassin nodded and went to the door. As ever, Goulet stood behind it, vigilant. "Mister! I did it!" Said Beruka, holding up the bloodied axe. Some of the "bits" had been cleaned off by Wendel during the run. Speaking of her, she was currently standing way back, in the hope that he wouldn't notice her. However, the taller assassin briefly glanced at her before grabbing the axe.

"Wonderful, Beruka! Wonderful! You know, only needing to retry once after all those years is pretty exceptional, huh?!"

Beruka smiled, all too happy about receiving an earnest compliment, though she flinched when he tapped her shoulder, and squeezed a little forcefully. "But remember." He finished, menace just barely present underneath on his honey tongue. "You can't return until they're dead, huh?"

The young girl quickly agreed to it and, when he let go of her, she bolted out of the room like a panicked mice, quickly making it to her room and its warmth. She closed the door and slid it off, sighing slowly. Once more, the fire calmed her worries, and Beruka hopped into the bed before starting a long sleep, in an attempt to ward off her feelings about the whole situation.

…

She woke up after about four hours of sleep, rose from her bed, yawned, stretched her arms and then realized that Wendel was standing next to her. The assassin stared at the masked woman before yelping in fright, almost falling off the bed. Luckily, Wendel caught her with ease.

"I-is there an urgency?" Asked Beruka. "Problem to be solved?"

"No." Answered Wendel. "Mister Goulet is leaving again."

She jammed a thumb at the doorway, where Goulet stood, arms folded and a most mocking visage on his face. A dark bag was tied to his back, and he seemed to be in a good mood. This translated into a particularly wicked grin in his face, that he barely seemed able to contain. "I'm going to take a vacation to our dear king's castle."

"Oh, could I come?" She asked. Her rather naïve reply's answer was, first, a laughter and then a more thorough answer. "No, no. I'm going to do something pretty boring." His smirk grew. "I'm just going to… cut off a little branch from a tree." She quietly accepted the answer. "It'll take me about two days, top. The house is yours, don't ruin it!" Concluded Goulet. "See you!"

Beruka waved amiably at him, with a big grin on his face, and watched him leave. Carrying a big bag was a death sentence in the slums, but she wasn't worried about him. She had seen him in action once or twice, but the slum rabble tended to avoid him anyway. She just feared that some would try to approach the house while he was away, but Wendel dealt easily with would-be thieves. Speaking of the woman, once the door closed, she sat down on a chair and observed Beruka. This confused the youth, who expected the woman to simply quietly retire.

"I want to ask you a question." Said the woman. "Say, Beruka, why do you do this?"

"Well… because Mister Goulet gets angry when I want to stop doing this." She answered. Wendel shook her head. "No. Imagine that he's out of the picture. What would you do?"

"I'd… I'd leave the slums." She admitted. "And I'd visit the world. The rest of Nohr, and then Hoshido, huh… everything, I guess. And then I'll plant a house near the city and I'll live here."

Wendel waited patiently for her to finish and winced a little when the subject of a house outside came up. Beruka blinked. "Is there something wrong?"

"You'll figure it out when you'll get there. Anyway, I see." Wendel got a bit closer. "Beruka. I'll have to ask you something." She tried to hold the azure-haired youth's tinier hands. The assassin didn't react. "You're a skilled assassin. None of the others… none of the other pupils made it as far as you did."

"I-I'm not that good, right? You bailed me out…"

"I did but that wasn't necessary. That throw was perfect." Said the masked youth. "You're better than I was at your age, and you'll only get better."

"T-thanks?" Answered Beruka, though her confused tone changed when she noticed that Wendel brought up her past for once.

"If you ever doubt yourself, Beruka, know that you have the skills to prevail. In times of crisis, you won't be able to count on some higher force to help you, and you won't always… you always won't." She corrected. "Have a friend to help. But in those times, know that you can do it. Using your talent, you can pull yourself out of whatever mess you're in. Got it?"

The young girl didn't quite get why her ally was being this… nice, but she still smiled gladly. "Thank you…" She said. Wendel smiled beneath the mask and got up to head into the hall outside. "I'll cook something. And maybe I'll talk to you about my past." She said. "A gift."

Beruka nodded in anticipation but she first glanced at what appeared to be the first actual friend in the household. "But… you'll have my back always, heh?"

"Yeah." Said Wendel, before stepping out. The younger assassin smiled and turned towards the fire, observing it. Even amidst all the warmth, she couldn't help but be a bit suspicious of something… but why?

Heh, it didn't matter in the hand. For now, she just basked in the warmth.

…

N/A: Only Beruka for this chapter, not Corrin! You should be seeing him soon enough though.

This chapter focuses on Beruka's past, so you'll see some OCs for this one, I'm sorry about it but I hope you'll like them :p

This chapter also serves as a look into the Nohrian cities, particularly the slums. I couldn't do that in the present day because Corrin and co often wander away from the cities and into foreign territory. The chapter after this one should also show the land of Nohr in general, and why it kinda sucks!

I'm sorry if anything edgy happened in this chapter haha, I hope you liked it, and the next one! Don't hesitate to tell me what you thought of it in reviews, they always help!

See ya later!


	21. A freedom out of reach

The ambiance was tense tonight at the supper, though Beruka couldn't tell how. Her senses were in great alert, as if trying to warn her of something, but she was finding herself too interested in some odd Hoshidan dish to really care about that. It was a piece of "fish" (an animal that only lived underwater) tied to rice, some sort of popular food all over the continent but especially present in Hoshido. It was odd yet pleasant to eat, so Beruka took it upon herself to eat as much as she could, though she wasn't ignoring the other food on her plate. Wendel's plate, by contrast, was more barren, and she chewed on her food slowly, making sure to hide her lower jaw from Beruka's sight by lowering her head above the plate.

This attracted Beruka's attention when she was younger, but she was never swift enough to really see what Wendel's face looked like, and was told quickly that trying to check it would be seen as a "faux-pas" in polite society. Were she older, she would've replied that they were perhaps as removed from "polite society" as one could be, but yet she knew that her mentor wouldn't take well to such words, so she opted to quietly ignore it.

However, tonight was meant to be a special night. For she would know the truth! Perhaps this explained her stress? But why would there even? Was it some kind of harsh truth?

"Wendel?" Asked Beruka, after chewing a little on her food. "Did I do something to make you upset?"

"No." Replied Wendel, who pulled herself out of her reverie and began to eat in a half-hearted manner. "There's a lot of things on my mind, it's as simple as that… say, Beruka, do you wish to know more about me? Where I come from?"

Beruka smiled and, while she kept eating, leant forward, in obvious interest. Wendel sighed before speaking up. "I'm from a… region that does not exist anymore." Seeing the little girl's obvious confusion, she quickly moved on. "People invaded it and destroyed it."

"But why would they do that?" And Wendel's reply was a wiry, tired smile beneath her mask. "Who knows? You'll see that people will do terrible things because they think that it will lead to a good thing for everyone, or for territory and glory or fun." She said. "My country fell to people who sought to expand their own territory."

"How did you survive?"

"Goulet was there, on a mission, and for a reason he decided to… save me." She put emphasis on the word "save". "I don't really know why he did it. He took me in and then brought me back to Nohr."

Beruka found herself interrogated by that. "You've seen what Nohr looks like?" She asked. "How is it? Do you leave at times?"

"Sometimes, but since I've been tasked with keeping an eye on you, I don't come out as often. I don't mind, though. Nohr's environment is ravaged." She described. Beruka found herself doubtful at that, but didn't see fit to interrogate her. Maybe she was a pessimist? Nohr couldn't really be that bad after all.

When she visualized the world outside, she imagined that it would be like how it was described in the books and by the storytellers. A healthy land, teeming with animals and vegetation, with a lot of charming villages over the large hills and maybe forests as well. Goulet and Wendel both laughed a little whenever she spoke of it, so she learned to stop talking about it lest she end up mocked again. Or perhaps Beruka didn't want to imagine that the world outside could be as bad as described?

"Don't worry though, I'm not resentful. If anything, I'm glad about not having to come out." She continued. "I grew up in these slums, under Goulet's guidance. If you ask, I do not exactly remember my parents, or much of my life over there. I was only told that I was a child from a dead nation by him." Wendel considered eating but Beruka was leaning closely enough to amuse her. The masked assassin raised one finger and then pressed it on Beruka's head to drive her backward, in a gentle manner. Realizing what she was doing, the young girl giggled and allowed herself to be driven back.

"So, what did you do then?"

"I take care of the house or contracts, when he's gone." She said. "And I usually take care of the new children he adopts. I help them grow and all that."

"So, after growing, do they leave?"

"… They do leave the slums, yes." Said Wendel. She then put her plate away and leant forward. "I've been his student for a while. Nearly a decade of it. And I've seen him adopt quite a few stragglers here and there." Continued the lady. "None were as competent as yours, though. You made it for a while as a kid without her own group to back her up after all, and until yesterday, you never had to retry."

Beruka smiled. "Well, you're better than I am for now."

"… Yes, for now. But as a child, I was far less successful. I often ended up wounded." She pointed at her face. "I've got a lot of scars beneath that mask."

"But why don't you heal them?"

"Those stupid staves don't work when you use them on yourself and he likes the scars." She said. "It keeps an assassin active, serve as a reminder of a difficult contract and encourage them not to think of themselves as invincible. Something like that… He's an odd, cruel man."

"Where is he from?" And Wendel shrugged. "Oh… well, now that you've said about yourself, do I tell about me?" Said Beruka.

"Sure thing…" Wendel shifted on her seat while Beruka took over. "Well, I don't remember my parents too much. They were harsh, I think… But I remember very little because they abandoned me early." Wendel intervened at this point. "You don't seem bothered by it."

Beruka froze for a moment, looking at the side, but then smiled. "Well… it does bother me, but if they didn't care about me, then I don't care about them." She found herself replying. "I care more about my pack… They gave up on me." And as unconcerned about her parents as she was, the mention of her old group did bother her. "In Nohr, you need to… kill to survive, but I didn't want to, I was cowardly and they thought me weak, so… they ditched me, one night."

Wendel remained silent while Beruka looked down at her plate. "… Wendel? Do you think that more people are going to give up on me?"

"No." Said Wendel. "Well… it's complicated. Look, Beruka, in Nohrian society, people just don't care about each other. They just see others as tools to use." She continued. "If you do a good job at one thing, then people will continue to like and keep you around. But if you fail, then they'll try to see if you can still be used before giving up on you. When an object start to get worn down by use or is damaged, you just replace it with another. That's how it works."

Beruka frowned. "You mean we're…"

"Tools." Said Wendel. "The life of an assassin is to be used by others, Beruka. And will I hope that you will prevail, it's not really a life one can casually put behind them. When you'll finally leave the slums, please… just don't keep that life forever, alright? You, you have the talent to gain the money to buy off a quiet life afterwards. Don't remain in that business. It'll eat your soul and your ability to feel compassion for others."

The young girl didn't emote but she did consider her words. Compassion? Well, it was already easier to kill… and she was shocked at that. Was warmth really all she needed to commit a murder? Could she so callously kill people for her sake? That was a question that most of the slums dwellers would answer with a firm "Yes."… But Beruka wished she could be better than that. For emerging from the slums as a ruthless killer would be admitting that the "Nohrian darkness" that infected the slums was too much for her.

But she felt like holding unto that was dishonest. Like she was only telling herself that she was still good, between bouts of murdering people.

"Why are you telling me this? You sound sad, Wendel, are you alright?"

"I'm alright." She said. "But, Beruka, please forgive me for what I'm about to do."

Wendel sighed and pulled out a knife. "W-wait, what are you doing?" Said Beruka, leaping off her bench. "Wendel! You can't be doing this! Please!"

"Beruka, of Nohr. My latest contract requires me to kill you." She explained, her tone flat. "In the name of fairness, acquire a weapon promptly. Fail to do so in the given time limit, and the assassination will begin. You have no choice but to agree, and any attempts at fleeing or attacking me directly will lead to an attack. You have ten seconds."

"Wendel, please, no! You… it's a trick, right? Please, what's happening? Mister Goulet, are you there?!"

The masked woman coldly began to give out numbers, going from ten, to nine, and to eight. Beruka realized that she wasn't kidding: She was going to attack, and her only option was to try and defend herself. The young woman ran to her room and slammed the door open before slamming it shut, in a bid to slow down her foe. She ran for her two main weapons, a pair of small swords, and eyed them briefly before realizing what she was doing. Could she actually kill Wendel? The woman was cold, but she had just started to open up to her, why was she doing this?

Beruka turned around as the door was once again opened, greeting a serious-looking Wendel. She had drawn two swords as well, and her ardent glare calmed for only a few seconds when she glanced at the obviously-terrified young girl in front of her. Could she actually do that? "Beruka. Ready your weapons or else you won't be able to survive."

"But I can't… I can't do that to you!" She answered. "Please!"

Wendel sighed and dashed forward, with such swiftness that the younger assassin barely raised her weapons. Sparks flew as steel met steel, and the masked one performed a athletic leap to get directly behind her opponent, kicking her in the back and sending her flying. Beruka caught herself rather athletically using her hands and, panicked, ran out of the room. A mistake, though, for her opponent was calmer and nearly as agile, allowing her to easily catches up and began slashing.

Finding herself in the kitchen, Beruka had no choice but to turn around in time to once again deflect an assault. To her own surprise, she was keeping up surprisingly well with the barrage of attacks, deflecting the moves thrown at her and spotting, more than once, an opportunity to end the fight. Yes, had it been another opponent, they would surely be laying in a pool of their own blood, with two knives stuck in their chest and a triumphant Beruka standing over them. But her enemy was one that she knew well, and as a result, she almost allowed herself to be grabbed by the collar before being thrown away, into another room. It was the one between the kitchen and Goulet's office, a small red room where he greeted his guests. Right now, though, it was used to settle a contract.

Beruka got up and simply stared up at Wendel, unwilling to hurt her. Wendel, however, very much was, as attested by her kick, delivered with enough force to send Beruka out of the red room and into Goulet's office. The young girl landed on her back but found no respite yet, rolling out of the way of a stomp before getting up again. She couldn't just dodge but… could she kill Wendel?

"It should be simple." Said the woman, slowly getting up from her stomp and taking a proper position. "Why do you hesitate with your attack?"

"I spent the last years living with you! I can't just kill you!"

"You killed the people in the slums."

"But they weren't you! It's… it's hard, but I just can't find it in me to do it! Please, stop!"

Wendel stopped and sighed. "I gave you enough warnings." She said, before attacking. This time, her attack proved swift: Beruka barely blocked one knife and failed to get out of the way of the other in time, being struck in the forehead by a quick horizontal attack that tore a gash into her skin. The tip of the blade dug into her pale flesh, easily slicing through it and creating a deep wound that caused her body to flood with pain. Now pained, on top of being confused, Beruka wailed and held up one hand to her forehead, blood flowing forth from her new wound.

She was seriously trying to kill her! Beruka, upon finally realizing this, decided to throw pretenses under the wind for now, and her defensive instincts overrode whatever reason had stayed her hand for now. Both her and Wendel engaged in a fight was both quick yet short, their blades whirling all around the room. The older assassin had more experience and sheer strength, but Beruka's slight edge in speed and raw talent proved to be a combination that could certainly match it, if not surpass it: With a scream of rage and pain, Beruka managed to slash Wendel in the ribs.

The young elite backed off and then began to run back to the kitchen. Beruka followed her, her gaze unblinking, and didn't wait for her to stop before attacking, aware that adrenaline was all that was keeping her active. The two foes simply resumed their clashing. Blades flew at high-speed, but Wendel was slowly being put on the defensive, foregoing her implacable offense from earlier in favor of an incredible offense. Her opponent was young after all, and would tire out after ineffectively picking at her defense for ten seconds. However, she underestimated just how sharp Beruka's eyes were, and just how deadly a Nohrian could be when pushed into a corner.

The young girl's purple eyes bounced everywhere and she eventually saw flaws in the defense, namely, that wound on her right side: It forced Wendel to lean a little and moving obviously pained her. That, and her left hand seemed to be slightly weaker than her right hand. Deciding to exploit that, Beruka purposely slowed her offense down, as if getting tired. She kept her senses sharp for a sudden offensive from Wendel though, and managed to dodge to the left when a stab came her way. Luckily enough, she had opted to use her dominant hand to try to deliver the killing blow, and left her side unprotected. Being skilled enough to realize this, she tried to move her left hand to block it but Beruka used her own knife to stop her, and then kicked the wound, destabilizing Wendel and causing her to take a few steps backwards. Triumphant, Beruka spun her knives and stabbed her foe in the chest with her remaining strength, only coming out of her pain-induced rage right as her blades tore through the cloth and flesh.

"W-well done." Said Wendel, her blades slipping out of her hands. She fell backward but Beruka caught her beforehand and knelt next to her. "You did it…"

"N-no. You… you held back on me for a while!" She said, struggling to wipe away the blood on her eyes. "Why?"

"It'd be a shame… if you died without using your full potential, I… I had to wound you for it, sorry…"

Beruka merely cradled her dying foe, allowing tears to come out of her eyes. "Why did you attack me?" She asked. "Did Goulet…"

Wendel coughed and nodded slowly. "A test… those before you failed but you succeeded." She struggled to breath. "I'm not a good person, Beruka. I've got a lot of blood on my hands, don't mourn me…" Her hand weakly moved to her mask, and she pulled it off her, and the assassin winced at the numerous scars all over her face. She wasn't exactly disfigured, but it was hard to envision how exactly she looked before she got all those scars.

"Beruka, listen." She grasped the young girl's arm. "I'm not a nice person. No one on Nohr is. Soon as you can… Leave this place, alright? Goulet, the slums, the royal family… This is a cursed place. Just… leave it behind as soon as you can." Beruka didn't answer, and her silence was interpreted as a yes. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to do just leave the dishonorable way, l-listen… O-once you're done… D-do what you want to do but never come back to Nohr." Wendel's eyes began to tear up. "Please…"

"I-I will. I'll explore the world for you…" She promised, squeezing her right hand. Wendel smiled slightly and then laid down. "Farewell, Beruka. And don't let him do to you what he did to… me…."

She breathed her last, and finally passed away. Beruka didn't end up breaking down as she thought she would, though she still cried plenty. Instead, she silently went to close her eyes and then slowly let the realization settle in. True, she was sad about it, but she was also angry. At Goulet, for his cruel "test" that had apparently resulted in the deaths of so many people. At Wendel, for attacking Beruka and forcing the young girl to kill her. And, last of all, at Nohr, for being such a bad place to live in. More than ever, she wanted out.

But she also understood that she couldn't just hold back. She had gotten lucky, and had to deal with someone who actually warned her, but life wouldn't be so fair the next times. If she ever wanted to accomplish her dream, then she would need to abandon what shreds of empathy held her back and accept killing. Eerily enough, the decision was not quite as complicated as she would've very much liked it to be. Having made peace with her inner self, however, didn't do much to suppress the huge bleeding gash on her forehead, or the sound of the door being opened in the hall, along with the chatter of the rabble that dwelled in the slums.

"Goulet's gone." Said one outlaw. "Come on."

"What if he returns though?" Cautiously declared another man, creeping his way into the hallway. The two men had more outlaws to accompany them, but their little conversation stopped when they noticed Beruka, her face bloody, kneeling over a dead Wendel. Most of them looked suitably panicked, but one of them actually kept his calm, briefly widening his eyes before smiling. Clearly, he had seen much of the slums if such a sight couldn't move him. Realizing that there was naught but a corpse and a corpse-in-waiting in the household, the man confidently unsheathed his small sword.

"Heh, see? No Goulet."

Then she heard the sound of a body falling, and then another. And she could barely see the second man in the hall being grabbed in the collar before being yanked away from the hall, though his scream ended very shortly afterwards. Finally, a hand reached out for the hand of the terrified outlaw and casually snapped his neck, bringing his criminal career to a swift end.

When he stumbled upon the dead Wendel, he managed to put a good front of surprise, though he composed himself in time to simply nod. "What happened there, Beruka?" He asked, closing the door and casually stepping over the corpse of his recent victim. "Did Wendel attack you?"

Beruka stood ready to accuse him but she knew that she was not in a condition where she could make him potentially hostile to her. So, she just nodded, and he apparently didn't see fit to question her on that. Instead, he darted to his office and came back with a staff, promptly using it to heal the wound. However, as skilled as he was with a knife or his bare hands, the usage of a staff was apparently complicated enough for him to apply only a minor healing. The flow of blood stopped, and the scar lessened a little, but it was still quite large.

"T-thanks." She said. "H-how did your mission…"

"It doesn't matter. You had a tough night." He said, with some actual warmth in his voice. "I'll take care of the bodies. You should have some rest." And for the tiniest moment, she believed him… but then she remembered that he certainly led Wendel there, and also remembered that she couldn't trust anyone in the slums. Speaking of her, he grabbed her body and hauled her carcass over his shoulder.

"There's some water." He said, pointing at some nearby buckets. "You should clean your face with it." Beruka accepted the order, and watched him leave before turning to a nearby bucket, looking over at her bloodied face in the reflection of the water. She looked at the mess of bloods and tears that stared back at her and chose, on this day, to never let herself succumb to weakness again.

Her face eventually hardened and she completed her ascension by splashing herself with the water.

…

The man's lackeys fells, owing to the sudden presence of a series of sharp weapons over their legs. The bearded man screamed in surprise and tried to back off, but he only found a cold wall to cut off his retreat, though the approaching Goulet ensured that he wouldn't have been able to escape anyway. The bearded man feebly held out a shaking hand.

"No, no! Please, I… I have knowledge! Please, don't kill me, I'll tell you everything I know!"

"Well, that's why we're here, genius." Retorted the assassin, before simply cutting his throat with a swing of his weapon. Chuckling, he stepped aside as his victim's body fell forward and turned around to witness his pupil finish off the remaining mooks. A few years had passed, and Beruka was already closer to how she looked like in the present day: Gone was the remaining naivety of childhood, replaced by the usual uncaring expression that the young woman bore. She hadn't quite switched to a bandana, though it also covered the top of her head. The armor required to ride a wyvern obviously wasn't present yet though, and she simply had a plain, if practical, black outfit.

"Truth can be silenced, it seems." Commented Goulet, wryly. "I'll never get why they send those people here in the first place but, ah well, more work for us."

Beruka quietly nodded, and then Goulet simply waited. Soon enough, two men quietly opened the door leading to the dilapidated building where the assassination had taken place, quietly handing about two bags worth of gold. Beruka and Goulet grabbed each, as a precaution. If they needed to, then they still had one hand each to deal with future attacks on them, and they both had more than enough skills to defend themselves using only one hand. Assassins, after all, were sometimes killed as well to ensure that the secret was truly safe. Luckily, the two men appeared to be unwilling to deal with Goulet, as attested by the way they quickly backed away.

"We may require your service once more." They said. "You will need to wait for a few hours for further details, but the contract that we promise you will ensure that you will be set for life."

"Duly noted." Explained Goulet. The two men quickly backed away, and Goulet and Beruka also left the building, though they did so by the backdoor. Once they were out, they promptly left the dank alley, and after both leaving it to rejoin their house, Goulet finally spoke up.

"Hm, it must be an important contract if they bother to warn us about it." He said, entering his house. Beruka followed suit and closed the door as he discarded his black cloak into a chair, leaving her to directly deal with it. "It's certainly something that will take place at the Nohrian palace, heh."

"Will you allow me to assist you for that mission?" She said. And he shook his head. "It's easier to go alone." He said. "You're skilled enough to make it, I think, but I'd rather do it myself. I know the palace and I know its secrets, like the tunnels." In answer, Beruka nodded. "I might make that my last contract in here too." He said.

"Why?" Asked Beruka, though she didn't sound surprised or even shocked, only raising a blue eyebrow.

"The slums aren't interesting to me anymore." He said. "And the royals in their castle are winding down with the conspiracy and murder. Nohr's getting boring."

"Where will we go next?" She said, and he took the time to think that out. "Somewhere in the south. I'm just looking for another place that needs people like us." He argued. "Nohr has needed us for a while but after forty-seven years in this hellhole, I think I don't need _it _anymore."

Beruka blinked softly. The idea of leaving Nohr and going somewhere warmer didn't interest her all that much. What bothered her was the idea that she would just be dragged along with Goulet. She knew that no matter the place, as long as he lived, she would never be freed from his shadow. "You always wanted to visit the world too, didn't you? How about I get you somewhere sunny?" He asked, scratching his chin. "I think it's about time I get a tan." He said.

"I never knew you would care about such a thing." She retorted. He shrugged in answer. "I did kill those two merchants at Izumo, didn't I? Their "finest clothes" were akin to rags and I couldn't let such a fashion crime occur. I care very much about looking proper, my dear." He smiled in amusement but she didn't. "Yes, you do enjoy telling me the story at every occasion." Beyond their differing ideas in what count as amusing, she just didn't like his long trips. Having to fend off bold outlaws was always a pain to her, and he was easily gone for weeks at times.

His smile faded a little, which didn't quite scare her as it did back in the day. However, she knew that defiance would cause him to be more alert, and she humbly leaned forward. "Hm, apologies, master, I am only intrigued by the news."

"That's fine." He said, though he grabbed her by the cheeks. The gesture was meant to be intentional, but had he squeezed just a bit harder, he would've probably been able to rip her jaw off. He regained his smile, but made sure to show his teeth. "You'll stay put and you'll prepare our belongings to escape this place." He said, and she simply agreed with a nod. "Hm, I thought you'd be a little happier about leaving the place."

She smiled, but did so rather awkwardly. "I just can't imagine a life out of the city, sir."

"The world outside isn't all that different in our line of work… But enough of that, I'm hungry. Go get us some food." He said. "I'll stand guard. Oh, and don't hang out outside for too long, hm? You could get cold again."

The young assassin got up and fetched her purse from her room. She had been offered Wendel's, which laid at the other end of the hall, but she choose not to use it. She still enjoyed the warmth that came with the fire after all. Reaching for her purse, she tied it to her belt and then put on a black cloak before heading out into the streets once more. Even with her conservative attire and heavy black cloak, the Nohrian cold was still harsh, almost to the point where she felt like she was being struck with a whip to the face. Shrugging that off, she closed the door and headed outside.

Life in the slums had picked back up now that some of the kids had the time to grow up, though now, the Nohrian army was smart enough to directly recruit the kids and promise them a home, food and companionship in exchange of rigorous training and Garon took efforts to try and set up more shops within Windmire, attracting some outlaws. Sometimes, the outlaws tried to go into the slums to recruit as well, or simply to hide from the Nohrian Army, who was still content with allowing the slums to exist (it was, from their point of view, a good way to cull the weak). They sometimes clashed with the other bandits lodged in the slums, who were too stubborn to walk under someone else's banner.

Beruka quietly walked into the streets in time to behold one such fight: Five thugs had emerged victorious in a fight against another gang, and had managed to earn some precious loots out of their arrow-ridden corpses. While prudently pocketing some of them, the thugs then held out some of the prizes, waging them at the crowd. "Come serve yourselves, lads!" Said a bald leader. "It's free!" And just like that, he was almost swarmed by a bunch of desperate people. It was a tactic to earn more people who'd be willing to help the cause, be it by joining the gang or sharing whatever scraps they gained.

The young assassin observed the event for a little moment before leaving, heading towards one of the "Black Gates" leading out of the slums. In her past, she was always intimidated by these gigantic, obsidian-colored gates that lead to the stairs, themselves being a ticket towards the capital. Plenty of people used to gather near them, in an attempt to find a crack to exploit, but with the army deciding to be a bit more present in the slums (though still very lax) by positioning about five soldiers in front of the gates, the gatherings had ceased.

Speaking of the soldiers, they immediately recognized her when she advanced and quietly opened the doors to allow her to advance, to the amazement of nearby Nohrians. Beruka didn't react though, and simply climbed the obsidian stairs leading to Windmire. The soldiers inside opened the massive doors leading out of the slums, and this time, the cold architecture of Nohr's capital city greeted her.

It was very different from the slums aesthetic wise. The buildings looked proper, the streets were clean, no one was outside and one could hear themselves think due to the silence of the streets. Beruka felt like she had entered a different world and even now that the sight of Windmire had become common, she still felt an odd chill down her spine when she glanced at the buildings.

The young girl began to walk down the streets. On her right, there stood the building. On her left, there was a crater, with the slums inside of them. Apparently, the crater was born out of the previous war against the invaders, and was so devastating that it hadn't been filled in the centuries that had passed since then. A few even said that the invaders had somehow infected the place with their dark influence, in an odd manner at explaining just why the place seemed to be so miserable all the time. Beruka scoffed at such rumors: People sure liked to pin their sins on the influence of ghosts, spirits or even dragons.

The slums were quite enormous, though Windmire itself was colossal. A bit over ten kilometers wide going by Goulet. Navigating in such a huge city would be outright nightmarish but she knew who to visit: A lone food shop, somewhere close to the black gate. She had switched shops quite a while, because of a rather obvious reason, that was happening right under her very eyes: Two thugs were robbing the food shop. One of them kept a knife pointed at the shopkeeper's throat, and the other was currently trying to ransack the shop for food.

"Vincent!" Complained one of the thugs in the shop itself. The other thug was in front of it, at the counter, hardly noticing the creeping Beruka. "There's not much meat to steal! This guy has nothing!"

"There is meat!" Corrected the large scarred man. "It's right in front of-" And he bellowed in pain before he could give his line of thought, a tiny tomahawk lodged itself into his skull, killing him instantly. Surprised and terrified, his buddy peeked out, eager to try to confront the murderer, but it made it all the easier for the second thrown axe to impact him in the cheek. He too fell over, and fragile Beruka kneeled over her victims to pick up her weapon.

"Oh, thank you Beruka!" Thanked Bertrand, the shopkeeper. He waged his left arm, the one that didn't get chopped off during a fight (though the identify of the aggressor, be it a Faceless, a Ninja or a rogue Nohrian was still ambiguous). This handicap made it hard for him to fend off thugs that he would very easily beat otherwise, and made it most unwise for him to establish his shop in a area where the thugs were aplenty, but like all Nohrians, he was far too stubborn to move out of his spot. Thus, Beruka didn't bother wasting whatever little sympathy she still had in her for him.

"Enough." She dismissed. "I would need the food."

He grabbed a bag and put the food on it, before handing it to her, along with a tiny bottle that she quickly pocketed.

"Thank you." She grabbed her purse and threw some coins. "You should afford yourself better bodyguards. My timing was very convenient for you."

"Hmph, right." He grunted "… It's not like you're going to stay here for long." Beruka didn't frown, but she almost felt like jabbing him in the face. Goulet, if he was eavesdropping (which he could do given his skills) could likely be made suspicious by that after all. "You sure are lucky that I can get that stuff easily. You buy a lot of it."

"Those are my problems." She said. "Farewell. And take care of the bodies."

"I will." And he smiled, showing off his missing teeth and gesturing at the corpses. "If you come back, I might have more meat in store."

Beruka rolled her eyes to the sky in annoyance and left. Were she more like Goulet, she would've probably killed him for his noisiness, but she wasn't needlessly bloodthirsty like him, or the rest of the thugs down in the slums (or Windmire itself) that he pretended he stood above of. And speaking of those, more were coming up as she made her way back to the black gate. One of them gestured at her, and Beruka stared back. Given their sizes and numbers, things could go bad for her if they dared to attack.

"Hey, look at this girl." Said the leader, eyeing some food. Beruka thought about just giving it up, but was saved when the second-in-command, a heavily scarred me, laid a heavy hand on his boss's shoulder. His gaze indicated he had perhaps already met the master assassin before. Seeing the fear in his buddy's eyes convinced the group to give her a wide berth, and the young girl simply walked past them, glancing at the slums. She could see the dirt roads and the white, shoddily built buildings surrounded by masses and masses of starved people of thugs, all walled off by the white walls, and she wondered just why she was going to head back there when she could just head out of Windmire.

But at the same time, as much as she wished to do that, she knew that she had things keeping her in the slums. The money, for once, and also Goulet's tracking of her if she ever dared to walk away. She didn't fear the Nohrian wilderness or even the idea of tackling a world much bigger than the one she was used to, but alas, she had some business to resolve before she could move on away from the slums, prompting her to begin to take the stairs leading back to the filth and violence below.

For once though, she knew that it may be the last trip. By tomorrow morning, she was out of the slums, one way or another. It was a promise.

…

"Don't throw in so much salt." He chided, from the table. "It gets my mouth dry."

"Very well." Replied Beruka, working her "magic" on the food. There was something oddly amusing in this vision of a deadly man, who had almost crossed half a century, impatiently waiting for a preteen girl to cook his meal. He obviously knew how to feed himself, since he sometimes left the country for a long while for missions, but he apparently just enjoyed having other people make the food for him. Beruka didn't much though. She learned how to make some food for herself when she needed, and it did help her with her current objective, which involved discreetly pouring poison into the meal itself. However, she had poured the venom into a different recipient to avoid drawing attention. Said recipient was being used to add some "taste" to the meat, off-handedly.

Once she was done with cooking, she put the food on a fancy plate and set it along the table, next to the cheese (which he was already nibbling on) before pouring the water into the glasses. Once that was finally done, she settled and began to eat her own food. He also did and nodded enthusiastically.

"You've done well." He said. "If you ever get bored with assassination, you could probably make a restaurant." And Goulet made his usual creepy smile. "You already know how to cut things up after all, don't you?"

"Yes." She answered pointedly, slowly chewing. The ambiance was quiet: The assassin had done well to make his house soundproof, since he apparently didn't want to hear the "dumb chattering" of the hopeless people in the alley. They ate quietly for a little while, though he didn't touch his own glass. Briefly, Beruka yawned and set her eyes towards a part of the room: The one where her brief duel with Wendel met a somber end, and briefly remembered the circumstances. Both were eating, and, in about one minute, one of them was going to lay dying on the floor. And she wasn't sure if she was going to be the last one standing, this time.

She turned around and drank from her glass absent-mindedly, seemingly not noticing that he had started to drink too. They continued to eat, and once his plate was empty, he set his cutlery down.

"You know…" He said. "You're probably my best pupil so far." Continued Goulet. "Wendel was good but she lacked your raw talent… Heh, you've only got one scar so far." He gestured at his forehead. "But she already had quite a few by then." She gave a grunt of acknowledgment. "I really struck gold when I picked you up, didn't I?" The eyebrow he gave indicated that he expected more of an answer, and she eventually nodded. "Yes, you did." He nodded, and sighed before getting up. "It's a shame that you're forcing me to do this."

Beruka raised an eyebrow… and then got struck in the cheek before she could react, being helplessly thrown aside into a corner of the room. Too disoriented to even begin to fight back, her blurry vision vaguely perceived a figure crossing the room before a hand roughly grabbed her collar and lifted her up. She could already feel her cheek getting swollen, but she had admittedly more pressing matters to attend to at the moment, like being at the mercy of a ruthless man. Goulet smirked, twirling a small knife in his hand.

"Aww, Beruka… Did you really think that this would work?" He gestured at the food. "I saw you slipping the poison in the food. Haven't I taught you better than that? It's so _obvious!"_

He moved his weapon to stab her. "Beside, this particular poison lose its punch if its exposed to too much heat… Ah, dear. I guess you're still just the naïve little girl that I picked up six years ago. What a waste…"

"I did not slip it into the food." She retorted. He opened his eyes and looked up at her in surprise. "I put it in the water that I served. For both of us." She took the measure of precising, aware that he switched while she wasn't "looking". His face grew pale, and not because of the realization. At the same time, so did her own, but at least she didn't fall to his knees. The poison that she gave him was rather violent, but it wasn't enough to kill a man.

Goulet looked up in horror. "You also drank it? H-how are you…" And Beruka simply walked past him, grabbing his knife. "I tasted a little bit of it whenever you were gone." She replied, raising the weapon. He reached out for her but his movements were sluggish enough for her to dodge. She wasn't exactly at her peak either, but she had slowly fed herself drips after drips of poison when he wasn't looking to build up an immunity, just to do this.

Of course, building a immunity is harder than one thinks, as attested by the shaky way she moved and the gradual appearance of sweat on her face. She had to put more dose, since he was bigger than her and would need more of it to be affected. The fact that they both got sick at the same time was a testament to her luck… or just how much poisonous stuff she chose to drink in the name of revenge.

"W-wait!" He feebly managed to stammer out, holding his hand. "W-why are you even doing this? I gave you a roof, warmth, I taught you to read…Y-you're nothing without me! You ungrateful little…"

Beruka considered him coldly as he continued. "I… I have plenty of connections in Nohr, if you… if you kill me, they'll come at you with everything they have!"

The azure-haired girl didn't react to that threat, nor his furious accusation against her. "Did you convince Wendel to try and harm me?"

"Y-yes! As a test!" He said, banking on his honesty somehow earning Beruka's approval. "It was a test to see how strong you were! W-why do you even care?" He realized that this was perhaps not appropriate to say to his potential killer and backed off. "Look, I'll let you have my money, and I'll hide you from my contacts if you let me go. I swear!"

The assassin's pupil glanced down at him and lowered her knife. He smiled slightly and leaned against the table in relief. "I knew you'd make the good choice…" And she carefully studied that expression before raising the knife once more. His relief instantly made way for panic and he fell over while trying to hold her back, as said delivered the last words he'd hear. "Here goes your hope."

"Wait, Beruka, wait!" He said, before being stabbed once, and then again, and again, and again, without stopping. It didn't matter that he probably died long before she was done, or that she slashed at him until the knife was too broken to even stab through his clothing. All that pent-up fury that she had kept in check was unleashed in an instant. She didn't scream though, or even change her facial emotions ever so slightly: It was all focused in her repeated stabbing, with her expression otherwise remaining neutral. Only the influence of the poison, or her own exhaustion (perhaps both) eventually got her to stop, and she dropped the broken knife before crawling backwards, observing the mangled body of one of Nohr's most dreaded men.

She had long since gotten used to her profession and deeds, but the sight of what she did convinced her, somehow, that there was no normal life for her outside. No matter how far her legs took her, be it in another country or even another continent, she knew that she would never really get rid of that stain on herself. She had been a killer far too long to just flee and pretend that she could live a normal life…

However, this didn't deter her from crawling away to his desk, to try to get his money. Her freedom was in sight. But as she tried to move on, she realized, to her horror, that she underestimated the plight of the poison, or just how limited her own stamina was because of it. Moving her body required her to deploy a herculean amount of effort, akin to lifting a mountain, and the mere act of laying down proved to be exhausting. And she found no dredge or inner fire to rely on. Beruka simply fell, a few feet from the remains of her latest victim, still desperately trying to crawl across the kitchen.

The Nohrian fell unconscious…

…

And the sooth light of a staff brought her back to consciousness, though two large hands thankfully helped the process by lifting her off the floor to better slam her straight into the wall! Beruka yelped awake and instinctively reached out to try to grab her opponent's face, but his arms were unfortunately a bit too long for that. Her blurred vision cleared to show her the snarling face of a scarred thug. Another man stood near him, poking at Goulet's corpse curiously. Lastly, there was a woman, with a staff in hand. She wasn't dressed elegantly, but she was far too clean to be a Slum-dweller. She wore a heavy black cloak, and put down a massive hood apparently meant to hide her face.

"You." She questioned, in a commanding manner. "Are you his pupil?"

"… Not anymore." Answered Beruka, and the thug ensured that no more sarcasm would come out of her throat by squeezing it harder, though a gesture from the woman made him back down. He still kept the young girl at hand though, having deduced, from the way her face was just covered in blood, that it might not be wise to give her freedom of movement. His grasp was tight enough that the noble approached Beruka and softly grabbed her jaw with her hands. Beruka glanced at her nails, long and sharp enough to take an eye if the woman wanted to.

"Well, I don't know how you killed him." She said. "But that complicates my plan. Say, dear, would you like to work for me?"

Beruka's eyes widened. Work for them? This only bolstered her tentative at freeing herself, but the large man's grip was too much for her to overcome. Why would she be thrown back into that life when freedom was _this _close? The injustice of the situation didn't sit well with the assassin, and she desperately moved her head to the sides. The woman's eyes widened slightly and she took a few steps backward, bringing her hand to her mouth and making an over-the-top expression of shock.

"Oh my." She declared. "You don't want to? Alright. Let her go." The thug was too loyal to question her, and dropped Beruka. The little girl scrambled to her feet in a manic manner and leapt to a corner of the room, her eyes wide and her respiration quick. She looked like a scared animal, which prompted the noblewoman to laugh a little.

"You can leave." She said. "But the word will be out on Goulet's death." Beruka seemed unintimidated and the woman bent forward. "There's plenty of blood on his hand, and some of it is royal. He was useful and, perhaps, skilled enough to avoid the consequences but now that he's dead." She pointed at the corpse. "There's a lot of people who will be eager to take their revenge on you, his heir, his legacy."

"I'm not his…"

"Try explaining that to them." She interrupted, growing angrier with the second. "This scumbag took my _son_! And I'm not the only noble who lost something precious to him. You won't escape the manhunt, and my influence reach far beyond that cesspool."

Beruka frowned. "Then why were you about to hire him?"

"He was useful, and I had… plans afterwards. Regardless, you will carry out his task." She pointed rather imperiously. "You will kill Josephine's accursed daughter, and if you manage to do that, then you'll be allowed to leave Windmire, provided you never return to it nor mention the contract."

Beruka's hands shook in rage, but she calmed down… True, this was her first foray into assassinating a royal, but with what was at stake, she'd attack King Garon if she was ordered to. Of course, it's likely that the woman was lying, since she had a grudge on

Goulet and admitted to having plans, but she didn't care. Nothing really mattered, be it the death of a man she knew for six years or the petty manipulations of those in charge, next to her idea of finally making it out of Windmire and the slums.

"I will do it."

…

She hadn't even been cleaned of the blood before they carried her in a tunnel within the castle. They had been dug over the centuries. They were originally meant to allow the royal family to escape should the castle be attacked, but more tunnels had been built, though many of those had also been closed to prevent the threat of an assassin, who tended to dig them to easily move around the castle.

Beruka had been put in one of those, right underneath the room of a Nohrian princess. She was supposed to emerge in another room and make her way to the princess from it, but she figured out that the guards would see her. So, she directly chose to carve herself a new exit directly from underneath the royal's room, relying on a drawing of the tunnel to do so.

She didn't really know how long it took her. She had to spend many hours in the dark, aware that the noise would otherwise be heard, before she started to dig up. Days may have passed, or maybe even weeks. It didn't really matter to her. She simply waited, and contemplated her imminent freedom, or dug. Looking back, Beruka didn't dwell much on Goulet's death in spite of his impact on her life. He was dead, and that was it. She had expected to feel triumph, or relief, or would find sadness perhaps, but there was nothing. She could've killed anyone else, and she would've felt the same emotion.

It was worrying, somehow, but she didn't care. All that mattered was killing the princess. She was so focused on her objective, in fact, that the matter of Goulet's death vanished from her mind. Her goal, and those words he spoke so many years ago, was all that came to mind. Her numbed arms eventually tore into wood, and she emerged out of the darkness of the tunnel into the darkness of… what seemed to be a closet? There was no sound outside, besides heavy snoring.

Her heart was pounding (loudly enough to wake up the princess) and she slowly exited the closet before making her way over to the bed where the royal stood. Emotionlessly, Beruka raised her second knife (the first one was too blunt at this point)… but stopped when her eyes attuned to the darkness: Her bloodshot eyes had noticed that the princess was very much active, and was, in fact, looking straight at her. The vision of a blood-soaked, outright crazed assassin didn't seem to faze her much. In fact, there was some kind of _habit _in the single uncovered eye she could see.

"You don't want to do this."

Beruka did, and her defeat was swift : After a single stab, which missed rather wildly, the princess dodged and kicked her across the room. Before she could even consider a counter-offense, the purple-haired royal leapt across the room and landed on top of her, with enough force to nearly knock out the assassin. Her knife was now in her target's hand, which was a worst case scenario, and she felt its cold kiss on her neck.

Guards burst in, Beruka was too weak to fight, and the princess had defeated her with utter ease. Silently, she realized that freedom was out of sight, and having that taken away from her, after she worked so hard to dispose of Goulet, got to her. Emotionlessly, Beruka leant her head back, staring into the ceiling.

"I can't return until you're dead, I can't return until you're dead, I… I can't return until you're dead, I…"

The princess leaned back in surprise, frowned and, with what amounted to a gentle tap, knocked Beruka unconscious.

…

She wasn't surprised to awaken in a prison cell, dimly illuminated by a nearby torch.

Beruka groaned and got up, glancing at her surroundings. She was stuck in a cold, dirty cell, located at the bowels of the castle apparently. Sighing sadly, the assassin crawled into a wall and hugged her knees in defeat. Her dreams of freedom had been utterly quashed, and she was confident that Nohr would dispose of her soon enough.

There was a sentiment of total defeat that made her sick. Were it not for that woman, she would be far by now after all. She would be… freed, not stuck in a underground prison. Fate had a cruel way to mess with her, or so it seemed.

When she heard the sound of footsteps approaching, Beruka didn't even bother to raise her eyes.

"Hey." Said a voice, which she recognized. The shock of hearing it here caused the young girl to glance upward to notice that the princess that she tried to assassinate was standing in front of her cell. She was dressed in a rather intimidating suit of armor for her size, and looked rather tall for a mere teenager. Part of her long purple hair covered her face, and she had a casual look on her face, glancing down at Beruka as if they were old friends reuniting, and not a target and her would-be murderer.

The princess smiled a little. "I'm Camilla." She said, grasping the bars. "Do you wanna be my friend?"

…

**A/N**: Hey, it's Camilla! Anyway, huh, I lied a little about the length of Beruka's flashback, but it will certainly be done before the next chapter is over. We will definitely get back at the main story by then.

I would've made it longer, to further explore Wendel and Goulet, but I didn't want to cause too much pacing issues. That's rather unfortunate but I could always try to re-visit them later, if you guys liked the flashback enough to see more of Beruka's childhood.

We're getting to the last part of it! How much did you guys like this chapter? Don't forget to leave reviews, they help a lot!

See ya around, and wash your hands!


	22. The eccentric Archduke

It was almost surreal to see the princess standing this casually in front of the bars, observing her would-be murderer with a look of detached amusement. Beruka stood up and leaned against the cold stone wall, trying to look as intimidating as possible. The princess's short laugh indicated that this didn't quite work out, as did the way she casually opened them with her key before entering, confidently stepping closer to the person who had attempted to murder her a… certain amount of time ago, she wasn't aware of just how much time had passed.

"Are you fine?" She asked, observing her fellow Nohrian. Beruka shook her head to the side and Camilla frowned. "Why?"

"You're alive." Retorted Beruka, before attempting to lunge at Camilla. "Attempt" being the keyword given her state. No longer having to dine on whatever scrap of food she could get her hands on had made Beruka forget just how weak someone could be if they forgot to feed themselves for a certain length of time. Her attack was so pathetic that King Garon's daughter acted as if the assassin had tripped, casually grabbing her by the shoulders and holding her in place even as the recently "orphaned" prisoner trashed against her restraints. Despite her age and build, Camilla's grasp was harsher than the thug's, even when she wasn't trying to restrain her anywhere as hard.

"Aw come on now." Said the princess, pouting a little and letting the prisoner go. Beruka took a few steps backward but lashed out with a furious kick… that one of the slums' sicker inhabitants could react to in time. As a result, Nohr's young yet already freakishly strong princess easily caught her foot. She stared blankly at the prisoner but simply pulled on the foot to make Beruka fall, and then held her up in reverse, raising her arm a little to prevent the young girl's face from dragging along the cold floor.

"… I don't think you understand what's going on." She quipped, before simply, gently, letting her down. Beruka's answer to this was to get up once more and attempt to hit her with a strong jab. The seemingly-superhuman royal easily dodged the blow though, and concluded the fight by lightly tapping Beruka in the ribs with the palm of her hand, sending her flying into a corner of the room, with the gathered straw doing little to cushion the impact. With the fight completely taken out of her, Beruka simply resigned herself to her fate as two heavily armored guards ran in.

"Milady!" Said one, before turning his eyes to look at Beruka. "Is this little rat giving you troubles?"

"No no no!" Retorted the serene princess, wagging her finger at her foe. "I'm just teaching this little commoner brat a lesson for trying to spill my noble blood! You should go fetch some friends though!" She warned. "You might need to be sent out on royal orders very soon to intercept whoever sent her!"

"Y-yes, milady!" Articulated one guard, before backing away with his friend. Beruka watched them go and looked at the princess, who knelt close to her adversary with an interested look on her face. She said nothing for a few seconds, calmly tilting her head to the left. Her contemplation ended quickly once some tears began to filter out of Beruka's eyes, though her actual face didn't change. Confused, yet interested, the purple-haired youth moved to wipe away the tear with her armored thumb. Beruka tried to prevent her from doing so, even using both her hands, but as with her previous attempts, this proved to be a fool's endeavor.

"Why are you crying?" She eventually asked, the imperious voice used on the guards having made way for a more regular tone of voice.

"I can't return until you're dead." Answered Beruka, and she would've resumed her attack if it weren't for her sheer exhaustion. "Please, just… just die... So I can live free." Camilla pouted and got up. "Sorry, but I read that killing oneself is bad." She said. "… Are you from the slums? I get why you want to be freed." Beruka got herself in a more comfortable position.

"Do you know Goulet?" She said, and Beruka, who didn't see much interest in professionalism, simply retorted with a quiet "Yes."

Camilla's neutral expression vanished rather quickly and made way for anger intense enough to let Beruka feel fear, though the young girl quickly calmed down and bent forward. "Where is he now?"

"Dead." Answered the blue-haired assassin. "I murdered him. He would've prevented me from enjoying my freedom." She explained. Camilla looked a little disappointed but didn't comment on it. "Then, why did you attack me?"

"A noble-woman intercepted me, and asked me to do it." Said Beruka. "She mentioned losing a daughter recently." Camilla put a finger on her chin and began to ponder. "Hmm, did you see her face?" Beruka shifted a little before replying. "Yes. I could even describe her."

"Good!" Said Camilla. "You'll do that, and as for your fate… Well, I've got one question now, and then we'll be done." She emphasized the done, and Beruka closed her eyes, resigned to her fate. "What's your name?"

The prisoner looked up at her initial target in surprise and blinked several times, having expected something else. "I'm Beruka."

"Well, Beruka. Two things! First, I am Camilla, nice to meet you!" She then held out her hand, with a bright smile. "Secondly, I've got an offer: Come under my employ!" Beruka took a few seconds (or perhaps she was just too exhausted to acknowledge what was happening around her anymore) to realize the nature of the question and then chose to deny it by shaking her head, though she was quite aware of just who she was offending. "No. I'm sorry, but I want to be set free."

Camilla pouted and lowered her hand. "Well, you tried to kill me, I don't mind…" She shrugged when the assassin blankly stared. "Force of habit… Well, I don't mind but daddy does, and a lot of people too. So if I let you go…"

She slashed her throat and made an overly long (but frighteningly accurate) death moan. "You're gonna die."

"… Why would you even want to recruit me? I've tried to kill you, and you obviously don't need me…"

"You're pretty talented." Said Camilla. "And having an assassin around me keeps me sharp… Also I just think that you look cute." She casually pinched Beruka's cheeks. "I don't want to see you killed by some dumb brute with an axe."

"I… I could escape." Said Beruka. "I want to see the world outside though… I've been someone else's tool for longer than I can remember. Please, I just want to be free."

The princess sighed but eventually smiled. "Alright then, but there's one condition to fulfill. You're going to see the outside world, and then you're going to have one more occasion to make up your mind, alright?" She held out her hand but when Beruka proved a bit too slow, she just grabbed it and even hugged her with enough force to lift her off the ground. "Wowee, you're so light! Hihihihi!" And Beruka prayed for the soul of her lost dignity before looking down at the princess.

"Let us see the outside world, then…"

…

She had heard of Nohr's outside awfulness for a while. Wendel had warned her, Goulet also advised his star pupil about the actual appearance of the countryside… But until now, she had remained blind to the truth somehow. Her optimism, refusing to accept the idea that the fabled land beyond the walls could actually be as bad as what was inside the walls, had convinced Beruka that those words were the manipulations of bitter people who had yearned to keep her inside.

But until now, the idea that things could really be as bad as they were described was absurd to her, though she never bothered to check things out when she was allowed to shop at Windmire. Out of fear, perhaps, that the pull of window would prove too strong if she were to see the "Black Gate" leading out of the city. Or she simply wanted to avoid taking a peek that would reveal that there was truth to the words spoken by Goulet and Wendel.

Now that she was "outside" of the city (with quite a few bows pointed at her back), though, Beruka realized that they did lie. Nohr's appearance was even more disappointing somehow. She knew that the sky was messed up, but the land outside was barren and cold. She could, vaguely, see a bunch of dead trees on the road outside, and there was little "grass" near the paved road leading towards Windmire. A cold wind blew, and she paced her head back and forth, desperately attempting to see something in the grey horizon that stood before her.

"Nohr suffers under the Qliphoth blight." Said Camilla, emotionless. "I thought you'd know…"

Beruka laughed mirthlessly and sat down. It was a quaint vision, but one that broke her somehow. She had lived her life hoping that it would go smoothly once she'd leave the slums, but she now knew that the world outside was as ugly as the place she grew up in. And perhaps more pleasant lands awaited beyond, but would she even enjoy them considering all that she had seen? And with the numbers of people that would be sent after her, would she even make it? Beruka's laugh continued without ceasing and she didn't even register Camilla's hand on her shoulder. She had killed so much, earned the wrath of so many people, and lost her soul… for nothing. That idealized freedom was never within reach, and she would probably remain under Camilla's orders until the princess had deemed that she no longer needed to.

She knew that she would need to fight again even after leaving Windmire. She just never thought that she would need to become another hired knife so soon after getting rid of her mentor. That's what was making her laugh: While she was out of the slums, Beruka now knew that she would never escape her old life. To her credit though, Camilla had a worried expression on her face when she approached the young girl, and seemed aware of just how messed up she was because of the news.

"So… do you want to join me? I promise that you'll get a good life." Beruka looked up at her slightly. "Why?" She asked. "Why do you keep trying to hire me? A-are you pitying me?" And Camilla's reply was a blunt "Yes." The sheer bluntness of it caused Beruka to actually smile a little, and she grasped her hand before moving to stand on her two feet. Camilla smiled but Beruka couldn't appreciate the triumph of the moment. Her freedom had been for nothing and she was right back under someone else's employ, after all.

But then again, it didn't matter anymore. Fate had apparently deemed that she would never escape Nohr's shadow. For all her life, she would need to use the prodigious strength and skills gifted unto her to work for someone. From here on now, her goal would be Camilla's, and that would be that.

"I hereby accept your offer… Lady Camilla."

…

Beruka's eyes opened and she slowly got up from bed, holding her hand and groaning in confusion. After taking the time to rub her eyes, she glanced down at her body to notice that she was clad in an average short-sleeved brown tunic, though her two arms were covered in bandages. Her whole body was covered in bandages to be fair, to the point where she, in her stunned state, almost felt like they were choking her.

Checking her forehead revealed that her bandana was still present, though a bandage was underneath. This made her upset enough to rise out of her bed, throwing the blanket away and putting her bare feet on the wooden floor. The room around her was surprisingly agreeable to be in: A large fireplace at the corner gave it a certain warmth, and there was a certain color to the room that contrasted heavily with the more stern architecture that she was used to. The nearby round table, for instance, was made out of wood and was painted red. Her eyes weren't drawn to it only because of that, however. She could see an open book, which she approached carefully.

On it there were two drawings. One of them represented Selena, and was actually drawn very nicely (as dull as her fashion sense was), depicting the retainer, arms folded, with a confident smile on her face. Above the drawing, some text had been written in red: "Get well soon, Ber!"

Next to Selena, Camilla had been drawn as well, though it was much more horrible. It looked like a stick figure with a purple cloud on her head, two black dots for eyes and a crescent half-smile, with a little axe in its spindly arms. A purple text had been written above the figure: "Don't die, or else I'm dragging you out of hell myself!" Turning the pages to spare herself the sight of the stick-woman revealed more texts, with Odin's filling about half the original page. She was actually surprised to see that even Prince Xander had managed to write down his own little encouragement. And was even more surprised to see that Corrin had also left his own message, though it seemed that he corrected himself multiple times while writing it.

Multiple empty beds, each with an accompanying table and a book on it, were present in the room. Her own was close to the fireplace, and now that she was a bit farther from it, it felt like she was already getting colder.

Closing the book, Beruka swung her left arm a little and saw that it was apparently fully healed, since it didn't snap in half on her. She saw a wooden cane, perhaps in case she had troubles walking (and she did), but she just walked past it and escaped the room, entering a wooden hall. The sun peered through a window above, and she looked up at it in curiosity before looking aside. To the left, there was a red door leading to a platform. To the right, there was some kind of odd half-fish, half-dragon stuck on a little floating orb.

She looked to the left then sharply turned to look at the right, raising her fists to prepare to defend herself. The beast approached her, unfazed, and she could see that it had a little maid-like hat on its head, as a way to fit with its cutesy appearance. It didn't do much to convince Beruka that the being standing in front of her wasn't going to try to devour her though, even as it spoke gently.

"Oh, hello Lady Beruka! I'm glad to see that you are well!" She said. "Should I fetch Lord Corrin?"

"… Yes." Replied Beruka. "What are you?"

The dragon giggled. "I'm Lilith! I'm Lord Corrin's servant! I'll tell you more about this later if we can!" She said, before promptly flying away, dashing past Beruka. The confused assassin headed out to see where she'd go, and widened her eyes when she spotted the landscaped outside.

It was illuminated by the sun, like Mokushu, but its architecture was closer to Nohr's, all sharp, dark, and teeming with a dark aura. She could spot some soldiers walking down the grass, or coming in and out of various buildings. A few were training or were simply laying down and enjoying something that they only saw in drawings until then: peace and quiet underneath the sun. She could see tall walls around the structure, and some soldiers walked on said walls to get from a part of the castle to another.

Beruka herself was standing on a little wooden platform with a railing and apparently emerged out of a large cabin in the woods. There were three floors to it, with the top being pretty small by the look of it. She would've followed more, but a shadow got her attention in time for the young woman to turn around, moving as if she had a weapon in hand, and yet again, she allowed surprise to briefly creep on her face when she noticed that he was flying with the help of two massive black wings, and casually discarded them when he managed to land. He turned to look at her, with a look of relief on his face, but Beruka couldn't quite accept the "hug" that he was offering with his spread arms, too confused by his casual use of flight, as well as the wings that he used to do just that, of course. She knew that he was a dragon but she was somehow surprised to see him just sprouting wings.

"Beruka! I've been so worried!" He said, dropping his arms eventually. "How are you feeling?"

"… Fine." She lied. "Where are we?"

He scratched the side of his head, apparently figuring out that she was lying. "We're in Lilith's world. She keeps asking me to say that it's "my castle" but I think that it's a bit egocentric. It's the, erm, world inside the crystal ball." He sounded confused about it. "It's a bit weird, I know."

"Yes." She cut him off. "What happened ever since I was unconscious?"

"I'll tell you everything. But would you like to have something to eat first? You've just awoken. I'm surprised you're even going by without your cane." He winced a little, but refrained from telling her just how bad her injuries were. Beruka still looked annoyed, since he could so easily figure her out now apparently. Her body had recovered, without a doubt thanks to the magic of staves, but her pride wasn't going to be repaired so easily. At least, she told herself, her enemy was just as bloodied. She certainly wasn't in a state where she could've contended with her fellow retainer at least.

"Yes. I'd like something to eat."

"There's a mess hall nearby. I could get you some food." He said, pointing at a nearby building. She glanced at it and, figuring that it very likely had what she needed, nodded. "Thank you." Said Beruka, before heading towards the ladder that would bring her on ground level. It would certainly harder to climb down than usual, since even after all that rest she still felt a little sore, but she refused to show weakness. Be it in front of the soldiers that could be watching or Corrin himself, for some reason. He did seem to be aware of her predicament since he promptly laid a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"Beruka." He said, in a worried yet serious tone of voice. "Are you sure you can climb down that ladder? You look a little unsure on your feet."

"Don't pity me." She replied, almost defiantly. "I haven't led this violent life to cower in front of a ladder." Perhaps knowing that there was little that could refrain Beruka from doing something when her mind was set on it (and also not willing to use a royal order for something as simple as climbing down a ladder), Corrin just decided to leap down near the ladder, with his superhuman abilities allowing him to easily make such a leap. Beruka felt a tinge of envy but managed not to show it as she began to head down in a manner that decidedly wasn't quite as fancy.

Corrin stood at the end of the ladder, seemingly to catch Beruka in his arms if she were to fall. This made it all the more tempting for her not to give up, or even show signs that the descent was giving her some troubles. She could feel the pain somewhat lessening as she went down, but the mere fact that she would feel pain while doing something as menial as this stung her pride even further, and Corrin's attempt at cheering her up once she was done didn't help matters.

"Erm, good job, Beruka!"

"Quiet." She retorted. "Lead me to the mess hall, if you please."

…

"Oh hello you guys!" Waved Peri, the madwoman had seemingly been put in charge of handling the shop, to Beruka's horror. Corrin grinned a little when he saw it though, and turned to look at Beruka. "We're in luck, Peri's a really good cook!" Exclaimed the prince, sitting down at a table. The assassin doubted such, but sat down as well, in front of him.

"What has happened since my… defeat?" She said, struggling to say the word. Her fists clenched slightly as she thought back of Kagero. Beruka had only ever missed one target in her entire life, and while the fight against the retainer had not been a contract, she was still an enemy. The possibility that Kagero had escaped haunted her, along with the fact that she had to be rescued from the jaws of death by Charlotte, of all people, and Selena.

Somehow this fact annoyed her more than the others. Obviously, Beruka wasn't suicidal, and was very much content to be allowed to live on to potentially have another shot at defeating the ninja, but somehow, being bailed out not by her own means stung. It was… weak, and all her life, she had tried to be the very opposite of that. She had sworn that she wouldn't be in a position where she would need to be rescued by someone else again, and yet, here she was, only alive thanks to the intervention of some part-time seductress.

She identified that burning feeling in her lungs as anger, though it wasn't as intense as she heard it was. She was grateful for that, though, for it would mean that she wouldn't lose her grasp on her emotions, as she did in front of the enemy. She also wondered if the others had seen her scar… Beruka frowned. Lots of questions to be asked, and she wasn't sure if Corrin knew or would be willing to answer them.

"So the fight ended in a victory for us but Hoshido meant to damage the town." He said. "We captured a few ninjas along the way, and it was apparently a trap from the beginning. The squad that bought that woman…" His eyes peered down and he noticed that Beruka's grip on her cutlery had tightened. "… The squad that captured Kagero was made out of Hoshidan soldiers, and they had slowly infiltrated Mokushu in preparation for a raid. They've attacked some other towns at the same time, but some of the towns that had Nohrian ships arriving were spared."

"It must've been an important operation."

"Ye, I-" Before he could continue, Peri sneaked behind Corrin and prepared to yell something. Beruka immediately leaped to the action. "I will take today's menu." She said.

"Huh… same for me." Corrin said, smiling. "How is it going, Peri?"

"Well, I'm cooking! It's similar to what I do on the field but the meat doesn't scream when I cut it, teehee!" Peri giggled happily, and Corrin's awkward smile grew.

"Y-yes, this is a wise observation, Peri."

Unfortunately, Peri failed to read the writing on the wall and turned towards Beruka. "Oh, Ber! How are you doing? Did you notice the message I wrote to you on that book? I wanted to draw it in my blood but it would've made the page super stainy!

"… I am more interested in your food than I am in talking with you." Said Beruka, bluntly.

She prepared to defend herself in case Peri decided to tackle her in a rage, but the crazed woman just had a good laugh. "You recovered real fast, Ber! I'm gonna make you a big welcome chili then! Onwards!" And before Corrin could mumble a farewell, she was off behind the counter. A few Nohrian soldiers, who had kept quiet, then started talking again.

Corrin leaned in and whispered. "I think she's crazy." He said, causing Beruka to roll her eyes. "Oh, about the book though, did you read some of it?"

"Yes." Answered Beruka. "It is… corny." She admitted. "I am surprised that you even managed to get people to sign it."

"It wasn't that hard. Well, Selena and Camilla volunteered, and Kaze also did, though he nearly wrote it in Hoshidan, and Laslow also wrote something, so Odin got on it and convinced Niles, and because he kept trying to find an appropriate message to type down the others saw and approached… Everyone just seemed to care about you. Even Nyx left a small thing. Er, and so did I but I didn't know what I could put. I'm not a very good writer and I didn't want to leave something cheesy."

Beruka looked away. "You didn't need to. I'm just a mere retainer." She studied the mess hall. It was rather large, though fairly empty at the moment, and was warmly illuminated by several lanterns, giving it a welcoming vibe. She briefly wondered who built it, since it looked Nohrian but didn't quite have the same ambiance as the buildings in the dark country. "… And in a war, one is expected to be wounded fairly heavily."

"I know, but I didn't want to just ignore you while you were unconscious." He retorted. "You're not just a mere retainer. You're my… friend." He said, having switched words. "Well." He chuckled. "Only if you accept it."

She almost wished she could interrogate him further on that, but in her little funk, she found herself not caring much about it. "I'm a retainer and you're a royal. We can't simply be friends… but if it pleases you, then yes, we are friends." She said. "Though I request that you still treat me as a warrior first and foremost."

"Of course" He retorted. "But just know that no matter what, I'm not letting you, or even Selena, or Peri, or Laslow just get wounded and not care. It's a little cheesy, I know." Corrin pulled on his collar. "But it's from the heart."

"Yes, the heart…" She briefly acknowledged the end of his sentence. "How did you gain the ability to fly?"

"Oh, well, I was trying to chase Saizo." He explained. "And I… guess it just manifested itself. It's a conscious change. Like I will it and I can transform part of my body without the need of the stone."

"You sound casual about it." Answered Beruka, and Corrin shrugged. "It just felt natural. I mean, I was pleased about flying butthenicrashedintoabuilding… but after that, it just felt… I can't say it easily. Breathing, walking and all that, it just comes to you easily, right? Well, once I made those transformations, I just think about it and it happens easily. So far, I can transform my arms, or cover my head, or grows wings. I think it's tied to Yato's evolution but I'm not sure…"

She observed the shadow sword briefly. "So, you trained in that ability while I was unconscious… regardless…"

"Chili served!" Peri almost slammed the bowls unto the table and skipped away. "… Regardless, what has happened afterward?"

She dug carefully into the food and then began to quickly eat it. The heat could be unbearable to some, but she didn't mind it at all. Corrin watched her in amusement and only took a few bites of his own food, while Beruka was seemingly challenging herself to devour it whole in the span of a minute. He put his fist on his cheek and just stared at her eating session before talking up. "We wanted to help with the repairs, but we were told not to, since we had a route to take. We still tried to help with what little time we had before leaving. I think we're on time, though, since only another Nohrian unit has reached Izumo in advance."

"Hm… Why was I placed here?" She asked, wiping her mouth.

"Well, I guess that it's easy to put you in the orb. It can host a lot of people, so placing our wounded here prevents them from being attacked, and since it's a peaceful place, it's easier to recover." He said. "Lilith's worked on her magic, and you can come out at any time by walking out, but it goes a bit awry if more than three people try to leave. Just in case."

She nodded, and Corrin sighed. "Sorry for not helping you, by the way. I was distracted, had I knew, I would've flown in to help." He said. "Well, I guess that's a little selfish to say though."

Beruka moved her hand over to his, and he froze for a moment… and then continued to stand in silence as she swiped his bowl, still being a bit hungry. He didn't mind though, and allowed her to do so with a quiet nod.

"… Don't worry." Admitted Beruka. "That admission of selfishness reassures me." And she began to eat again, trying her best not to make too much noise as she devoured the chili. He tilted his head, either in amazement at her eating skills or because he couldn't figure out what she meant. She cultivated his curiosity, only speaking up after spending some more time eating. "You spend too much time trying to be some sort of selfless icon. Like you're trying to put forth a mask. When you admit to having selfish thoughts, it makes it easier for me to trust you." She looked up at him. "No one is selfless, and a man who is trying to be completely selfless is deluding himself. Don't be afraid of sharing your weaknesses, especially since you're talking to a friend." Beruka felt an odd aftertaste on her tongue after she said the word. Either it was some sort of feeling or the chili was actually burning it.

"Alright…" He said. "I guess you're right, but at this point, I don't want to show my, huh, lesser side to my troops. I'm kind of afraid that they'll lose their respect or will stop following me otherwise."

"Nonsense, they will follow you because it is their duty." She said, using a wooden spoon to clear whatever remained of the chili. To her sorrow, Peri was actually a great cook. Then again, the young psychopath was a noble, and could probably learn from the best easily if she wanted to. Her culinary meditation found itself most rudely interrupted when a shadow peered over the table, and she turned her head to greet Shura. Beruka grimaced, remembering the manner in which the man had left her behind when he found himself outnumbered. Of course, she would have done the same if Kagero had somehow decided to target him, but she wasn't ready to acknowledge her hypocrisy.

"What are you doing here?" She said, rising from her seat. Even in her weakened condition, the man still took a few prudent steps backward. He was wearing a Nohrian uniform but saw fit to customize it (which isn't frowned upon as long as the uniform remain identifiable amid a fight) with an armband and a few decorative objects from Kohga. He also had a magnificent pair of boots, but that came in second.

"I'm just delivering the latest news." Retorted Kohga. Corrin got between them before things went ugly though. "He's an ally. He went to me specifically when he could have easily ran away."

"Which he did." She accused.

"Hey now." He said. "I'm sorry for ditching you, but she defied you to a one-on-one. It's not like I was going to gawk and watch you fight."

Beruka frowned but backed off a little, to Corrin's relief. "Alright. Shura? What is the reason for your visit then?" In answer, the newfound Nohrian soldier made a lazy salute.

"Lord Xander would like to see you. We're about to reach the capital of Izumo and that's gonna require some… diplomacy." He said. "He wants to ensure that the entire royal family looks at its best to visit Izana. I don't think this guy care particularly about whatever clothing you're wearing, but hey, I'm not foolish enough to contest a prince of Nohr."

"Alright… well, Beruka, it was a pleasure but I guess diplomacy calls." Corrin looked at her, somewhat regretting to depart. "I hope you won't mind."

"I won't, and you shouldn't care about my opinion anyway." She sighed. "We'll meet again, Corrin."

The prince nodded, and walked out of the mess hall. She stared at him for a few long seconds, prompting Shura to cough. As a result, she turned towards him, preparing to dismiss him.

"Sorry to interrupt ya, but that woman asked me to send you to her immediately if you ever find yourself in a good condition." She explained. "Something about ensuring that her dear Beruka…" He smiled a little mockingly. "Is healthy. And judging by those bowls, you are."

"Hmph." She answered. "I will visit Lady Camilla, thank you for your message. I am glad to see that you've discarded your identity as an outlaw to become a messenger boy."

He grumbled something but went to a different corner of the room to eat. Beruka left the mess hall, prompting Peri to wave away at her, and reached the outer areas of the castle. Luckily, the gates that should've led her outside were very close, prompting the retainer to begin to make her way. Annoyingly enough though, she was intercepted once more when a shadow dropped from the sky in front of her, revealing Kaze. He admittedly wasn't the worst person to (literally) drop by in that case, though.

"Beruka. It is good to see you back on your feet."

"Kaze, it is good to see you inside the castle". She said, suspicion present in her voice. He chuckled lightly.

"You're fully awake, good." He said. "I was about to leave the palace. We're no longer in Mokushu and I would quite like to see the land of Izumo with my own eyes… And while this place is quite ideal, I dare say that I wouldn't miss the chance of taking a walk outside!"

"You've had your chance before, I'm quite sure." She retorted, suspicious. His smile dropped for a fraction of a second but then he chuckled again. "No. Miss Beruka, I am hardly lying! Once I've entered this sphere, I never took a single step outside. I think that I know this place better than Lord Corrin by now." He jammed his thumb towards a temple-like structure with a tree on it. "Lady Lilith knows it better than I thought."

"The beast has a name?"

"Yes. Her name is Lilith. She's the draconic keeper of this world." He explained. "Or so I've been told by Corrin. Lady Lilith tends to the wounded in the sickbay but she also rests in her temple. I've seen Lord Corrin bring her a… certain amount of food every day. In spite of her size, I can guarantee that she eats about as much as a full-sized dragon would!"

Was she somehow related to Corrin? She was a dragon after all, while he obviously had draconic properties.

"Hm… I see. Regardless, we will leave together, then."

"Very well. The gates serve as the entry point but they can also be used to leave… Oh, never mind, you've probably been told such by Lord Corrin already." Beruka answered with a rapid nod. "I apologize. I guess that I'm eager to share the knowledge that I've gathered of this place with someone else." She didn't answer, so he continued. "Unfortunately, the other Nohrians here don't trust me…"

"That's fair. I do not trust you either."

"And that is understandable." He said, a bit hurt. "But I just wish to prove myself to you."

"Then may the coming battles allow you to do just that." She concluded, before leaving the castle. She was hoping that Camilla would not accidentally cover herself in ridicule while meeting her… Hm, no. She was gearing up to meet a head of state, surely she wouldn't actually do that.

…

"Awww my poor little Beruka! I'm going to personally take care of the brute who put you in that state, and then I'll allow you to finish them off, oww, my dearie!"

Camilla would actually do that. But the saving grace was that she would only do that in front of Selena, who was leaning on a corner with her arms folded and a little mocking smile on her face. Beruka would've gouged out the eyes of a person of lesser importance by now, but Selena's position made it difficult for her to do that. But if she couldn't engage in atrocious displays of physical violence against a sworn ally, she could at least attempt to salvage her pride by breaking away from the hug.

"Thank you, Lady Camilla. I am glad to know that you care about me." She lied, dusting off her uniform. It had been made in preparation for the trip, and was thankfully "normal" in contrast to the more opulent outfit worn by Camilla. It was naught but a black-and-purple shirt with long sleeves, black pants, boots, and even some black gloves, in addition to her bandana. Speaking of it, she didn't know who was now aware of the gaping wound on it: It was a small detail, and one that she didn't realize at the moment, but she wasn't very happy at the thought of people knowing about what the ninja accurately (to her regret) called a "chink in her armor".

However for now, she had bigger things to deal with.

"However, I need to have the order repeated. We need to give the Izumians our weapons?"

"Yes! It's a token of confidence after all. They won't be doing anything to mess with them though! It's just a matter of honoring our hosts! And preventing their gods from damning us all to eternal damnation or something bad like that. I'll have to admit that this is quite the diplomatic encouragement!"

There were reasons for Izumo to be able to so easily impose its trade on Nohr. Outside of the talk of the gods taking their revenge on those who would mess with the tiny country, Izumo's willingness to trade important materials (medicine, magical pages, and the likes) with Nohr made it an important ally to the dusk country, and both countries were somewhat friendly to one another (a source of jokes for many. The idea of the brutal dusk country being friendly with the land of the gods was apparently hilarious to some). Wherever Izumo found itself dealing with a problem that the gods wouldn't take care of, such as bandits, Nohr was ready to move in quickly to help with the problem.

Of course, the usual Nohrian warhawks recommended that Nohr eventually just plain invade the neutral country, in the hope of acquiring its precious resources, but Garon had been wise enough to block it. Some say that Qliphoth themselves, ruthless conquerors that they were, wouldn't have dared to invade the country. This is why a lot of Nohrians nobles ran away to find shelter in the peaceful country, perhaps explaining why the country is so amiable to a warring empire.

"… What if Hoshido attempts to assassinate one of us?" Said Beruka. "Without our weapons, we would be defenseless against ninjas."

"Well, that'd be quite rude! And Izumo would stop trading!" Answered Camilla. "Regardless, girls, we're going to stay only one night. I would loooveee to spend more time here but unfortunately, we do have a lot of eager Hoshidan soldiers to massacre! And we suspect that there's a lot of them waiting for us near the frontier, so you better rest up, because we're going to be getting into the gritty side of things real soon!" And she pinched Beruka on the cheek. "Understood, my adorable little Beruka?"

"Yes." Replied the ever-stoic assassin.

"Alright. I'll be going. We'll need you to be present for a huge feast in the evening but you're allowed to leave and wander around the town! Just don't get too drunk! We wouldn't want one of our own to vomit on the lap of a diplomat now, wouldn't we?"

"H-huh… yeah." Said Selena, weirded out by the choice of words. Camilla clapped her hands together and walked out of the wagon.

"See you, girls!" Concluded Camilla, before leaving, probably to meet up with the other royals. This left Selena and Beruka alone in the room, and the former was already approaching the latter, with a friendly smile on her face. The assassin, deciding not to let things drag out, held her hands up, as if to tell her to wait, and gathered herself a bit before speaking.

"Thank you… for saving me." Spoke Beruka, attempting to look directly into Selena's eyes. Once that was done, she crossed her arms and looked to the side. Her cheeks reddened. She was just hoping that Selena wouldn't drag things out now, for the sake of her dignity. Luckily, the redhead was too surprised to reply at first.

"W-well, you're welcome." She said. "Hey, don't look so glum, though! I just saved my partner and reluctant friend from that Hoshidan hag. No biggies!"

"… Yes, speaking of her, did you somehow defeat her? I managed to leave her in a state where she couldn't possibly be a match for you." Spoke Beruka, eager to retrieve some of her pride. Selena's grimace didn't quite reassure her.

"A bunch of ninjas attacked right afterward. I fended them off but she fled."

Beruka blinked. "Why? You could've killed the retainer with ease."

"Well, if they managed to get to you, I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself." Answered Selena, leaning back against the wall. "I'm not really in the business of just letting my friends die, you know?"

Beruka frowned, but found it hard to fire back. A few months ago, she would've just replied "I would have let you die if it meant neutralizing the woman"… But something was holding the words back, and preventing her from leaving her throat. "… Why?"

"Why would I defend my friend and stop them from getting butchered by some ninjas? Geez, that's a tough question isn't it?" Fired Selena back, with her eye closed and a sly smile on her face.

"I… I insulted you before the battle." She said. "I don't understand why you still yearn to call me your friend. I am an assassin."

"Well, I'm used to hanging out with quirky people and…" Selena looked outside, with a wistful look in her eyes. "I've sworn that I wouldn't let my companions die ever again." The seriousness that was in her voice vanished instantly with the next words that she spoke though, and she turned to point at Beruka with a mischievous look on her face. "Even when they're kinda jerks! But you're my jerk!"

Beruka didn't answer, so Selena sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Alright. Look, I'm kinda surprised by what you did the last time, and I know you still think I'm shifty… So here's a deal. We're going to visit Izumo, and we'll buy something together, as friends, hm?" She held her hand. "And I'll tell you everything. The whole truth. Though I'm quite sure that you're going to dismiss it."

The assassin didn't bother to grasp the outstretched hand but she did nod. "Very well. I shall… shop." She said.

"Yeah! Besides, we couldn't actually get to do it because of the whole war thing."

"… But. Still, why do you partake in such wide shopping sprees?"

"Hm? Oh, well. Err, that's sort of tied to my dark and mysterious past." She waved her hands and deepened her voice in the last part. "See?"

"… Yes, your dark and mysterious past. Regardless, since we have yet to reach Izumo, I will go back to Corrin's castle." She said. "I need to quickly build my strength back, and I yearn to master spear-fighting."

Selena nodded. "Oh, by the way, err, what did you think of my drawing?" She said.

"… It is good." Said Beruka, raising an eyebrow. Selena sighed. "Errr. Unlike what you may think… I drew Lady Camilla, and she drew me."

"Oh." Beruka went silent. "It was mediocre." She said, allowing a small, small smile to creep unto her face. Selena grimaced but seemed pleasantly surprised, and she playfully bumped Beruka in the arm.

"I'm glad that you're back on your two feet, Beruka." Affirmed Selena. "Even if you're as grumpy as usual, but that's a sign of good health."

"Hm, thank you. Likewise, I'm glad to be alive and in good health."

"Well, duh!"

…

Izumo was a country that was "built by the gods". Settlers from a far-away land, persecuted for their religion, fled to Dreiz a long time ago and settled on the south-east, according to the instructions of the higher beings they believed in. The legends said that their kingdom would be small but prosperous, and they shall remain under the protection of the gods as long as they kept to themselves, without invading other countries. As a result, it is a particularly small country, comparable in size to a province.

While neutral, Izumo was greatly influenced by Hoshido, and over the ages, changed its aesthetic to match the greater nation's own. However, its ties to Nohr are well-known, and the country is quite happy to provide for all of Dreiz when it can. Tellingly, Nohrian garrisons exist over the territory, but they tend to be in a small number and lack the numbers required to perform an all-out invade on Hoshido.

However, more than the garrisons, invading foes should fear the wrath of the gods. The leader of Izumo, the Archduke, is granted the gift of communicating with deities, and it is said that they will not hesitate to use their great powers to smite those who would harm the countries. The gods themselves are mysterious and seemingly not really involved in mortal affairs, preferring to lounge on a far-away mountain, apparently providing Izumo with riches and the likes. It doesn't appear that the Archduke has any divine blood in them: They age like any mortals, whereas those gifted with the blood of dragons tend to live longer than most, and while they obviously never had to fight before, it is indicated that they lack the enhanced physical power of the descendant of the dragons. They do appear to possess a special talent in their bloodlines, which is the communication with the deities.

The Archduke like is a dynasty, and the child is thoroughly trained early on to never abuse their power to become evil. They are the central figure of Izumo and speak to the gods directly. Will the gods are apparently rather apathetic to the suffering of the average inhabitant of Izumo and do not constantly watch over the Archduke, it is said that they are quite angry when their "voice" goes missing or is hurt in any manner, and devastation is likely to occur for the poor soul and, depending on the mood of the divine, their entire country. Some disbelieved that, but the clear existence of the supernatural in Dreiz meant that few were willing to try their luck and accidentally invite divine wrath upon them.

Xander had repeated the latter part quite often, to emphasize the importance of etiquette in the conversation. Even as the six siblings, in their best attires, were already gathered in a wooden room, patiently waiting for Izana to emerge and greet them. Corrin tugged on the fabric of his black shirt, restraining his annoyance. Without his armor, and especially his sword (that he opted to leave behind at his castle, out of fear that it could be stolen), he felt… a bit defenseless. His newfound draconic abilities would be very useful in fending off a daring assassin, obviously, but he had fought so many ninjas at this point that he was constantly looking over his shoulder. It didn't help that they seemingly acquired weaponry that could hurt him: His bare skin didn't fear steel weapons anymore, but the slightest touch of those odd barbed weapons that the Hoshidans wielded almost sent him into a frenzy at times.

"Big bro? Are you okay?"

Corrin looked down at Elise, who looked quite impatient herself. "Y-yeah. It's just that I'm meeting an archduke and someone who speaks with the gods, so it's a bit stressful, you know?"

He did encounter Kotaro, but the circumstances were less… officious, and the man had been killed. Corrin wondered how Mokushu was going to do in his absence, but he found it harder to care as he got deeper into enemy territory. While what happened was evidently tragic, he had his own problems to solve. That was a pragmatic opinion to have on the matter, and one that Beruka would likely hold, but he feared that he was slowly losing his altruism as time went by.

He still wondered if she would have gotten as badly hurt by Kagero had he been there to save her in time. Of course, knowing Beruka, she wouldn't have appreciated the save out of pride, and the crops would probably have burned without his rapid intervention via flight, but somewhere… Somewhere he regretted making the right choice, and that was vexing him.

Eventually, a man walked into the room and coughed. "Hear hear, princes, and princesses of Nohr! Most glorious Izana will welcome you with his presence! Hail The Voice! Hail the ones who speak to the gods, and may most wondrous words fall into his ears so that he may repeat them to the divine beings in the sk-"

The rather bombastic man was interrupted by a slap in the back, courtesy of a white-haired man who casually walked into the room, though some guards ran after him. He was rather androgynous thanks to his pretty face and long, silky-smooth white hair. Of thin build, he still stood pretty tall and wore refined white clothes. The dragon prince had to admit that he would've probably mistaken him for a woman if it weren't for his voice.

After his remarkable entrance, the Archduke waltzed in, ignoring the very confused look of the royal family. "Heyah Lord Xander, how's the day going?" He said, holding up his hand. When Xander held his hand for a handshake, Izana shook it and then held his fist forward. The crown prince, somehow understanding the gesture, lightly tapped the archduke's hands with his own fist, causing Elise to giggle a little.

"The day is… well." Said Xander. Izana smiled and moved on to Leo, holding his hands up. When Leo failed to properly identify the gesture, the archduke decided to lightly clap him on the palm of his own hand. Were he of lesser ranker, Corrin was pretty sure that he would've been rather easily blasted in the face by a magical spell.

"Heyah Lord Leo! How are things going? You're going to be happy with the coming feast! I planted a lot of tomatoes just for you! You like those, right? I saw it in a vision! And I like tomatoes myself!"

"… Yes." Replied Leo. He briefly turned to look at Xander, who shook his head and, of all things, shrugged. Camilla, the next to meet Izana, actually identified his gesture and properly clapped his hand with her own.

"Nice Lady Camilla! We're going to bring you to an onsen quickly once we get this diplomatic stuff out of the way! You're going to love it! It's really relaxing!"

"Oh, I'd quite love it!" Answered the princess, pleased with the eccentric demeanor of the white-haired ruler. The man chosen by the gods then moved in front of Corrin and the blue-haired man awkwardly high-fived him.

"Nice one too, Lord Corrin! Hey, long time no see, hey?" Spoke the man, cheerfully winking at his host.

"With all due respect, milord, this is our first encounter." Affirmed Corrin, cocking his head to the side in confusion. Izana's smile froze.

"Ohhhh wait, I saw you in a vision too! You had that super cool sword and that long flowing hair! It was pretty cool, I'll tell you! So technically, we did meet each other already, but in the future!"

"T-that make sense." Lied Corrin, discreetly brushing his hair. Izana then moved on to Elise, who also managed to correctly hit his hand. "Yeow, you pack a mean punch, Lady Elise! I hope that your brothers and sisters are shielding your eyes from the sights of war, it's not very pretty!"

"Haha, don't worry, they did!" She said. Finally, he moved on to Azura. The songstress, however, simply remained immobile for several seconds, quietly staring at the Archduke and only slowly tapping his hand before things went past awkward. Xander sighed in relief. "Oh, don't worry, I know that all this stuff is off-putting, Lady Azura! But you know how standard diplomacy goes! Very boring stuff!"

Izana walked back and observed everyone briefly. "Well, you're all finely dressed! And you obeyed the rules too! Don't worry, your weapons are stashed somewhere safe! And you won't be needing them for the feast! I've spoken with the gods and they told me." He took a deep voice. "There won't be any troubles today, Izana! Promised!"

He eyed a reaction, and most of the royals (bar Elise, who found the guy hilarious) chuckled, though Camilla managed to make her laughter a bit more genuine.

"Anyway. So! I've gathered you guys for a very special reason!"

Izana began to walk out of the room and they followed. Xander and Camilla led, Leo and Corrin were in the middle and both Azura and a curious Elise formed the tail end. On their right, they could see a garden, where servants of the Archduke were lazying about in the sun. Occasionally, one rose from their spot before waiting near the entrance: At this point, a soldier would enter the garden, hand their weapons and armor to the departing soldier, and then go and laze about.

The garden themselves were beautiful outright. A small artificial river flowed through them and there were some trees to provide some shade against the sun. Corrin found himself wishing to go there once he's be done with the diplomacy.

"The Archduke is… quirky." He whispered to Leo.

"I've been told of that." He said. Leo couldn't quite keep his composure like Xander, who had quickly retrieved his stone-faced demeanor after nearly losing it during the initial introduction. The young man's eyebrows were raised in both suspicion and interrogation, and he could even tell that the Archduke's rather relaxed manners were irritating Leo, though diplomacy prevented the prince from using his typical bluntness on the cleric. Well, that, and Izana would probably not pay heed to criticism. "But it is still somewhat disconcerting to see…"

"Anyway! Before we go diving into Lake Tanuki or visit the streets of my beautiful town, let's get down to business!" Said Izana, concluding his path by standing near a wooden door. "War is a very troublesome business! So troublesome that I've decided to try to see if we couldn't talk things out!" The prince leaned against the door. "It's a little hopeful but, ah, I guess I just can't ignore all the tragedies happening outside my kingdom! So, today, I'm going to try to have peace negotiations happen!" He spread his arms wide. "Surprise!"

Xander smiled tiredly. "Milord, I am an advocate for peace but unless the whole Hoshidan Royal family happened to stand behind that door, I doubt that we could engage in negotiations."

Izana's grin widened, and opened the door wide open, leading to a wide wooden room. He did it in sync with a subordinate of his, who opened a door at the end of the room at the exact same time as his lord. Corrin entered it with the others but stopped when he noticed just who was walking in the room.

Four people walked in the room, and he could've recognized any of those four immediately. After all, could he ever forget the faces of his other "family": The Hoshidan royals? Ryoma, who led the group, stopped upon noticing Corrin.

"Ryoma?"

"Kamui?"

Izana went over to a bar and grabbed a piece of sushi before nibbling on it. "Oh boy, family drama incoming. Impeccable sense of timing on my part, I must say."

…

N/A: And we go straight to chapter 18 and leave Beruka's flashbacks behind! She didn't quite become Camilla's retainer straight away but that might be for later.

We get to see My Castle and we catch up with the characters! How will they deal with the events of this chapter? What kind of calamity will soon befall Nohr if nothing is done? That's for you to see in five days!

The Izumo "arc" might take a bit longer than Mokushu, thanks to a little addition of my own that's kind of foreshadowed at the end of this chapter!

As usual, don't forget: Reviews and the likes are very appreciated! I love 'em, keep 'em coming!

See ya!


	23. Awkward family reunions

The capital of Izumo was pretty fitting to the descriptions. While they were less numerous than in Cyrkensia, there were a lot of people walking down the streets, and a lot of them had Nohrian clothing, though a few Nohrians, for whatever reason, were walking out in the open wearing Izumian clothes. While a few of the soldiers sneered in derision at them, a few others seemed to be almost envious. Most of them, after all, had plain shirts and pants on for the occasion.

For the most part though, they were enjoying each other. The inhabitants of Izumo didn't seem to mind their rather brusque manners or the way large pools of Nohrians gathered at bars and "acquired" chairs for their compatriots. Beruka could see some Izumians sitting down with the soldiers, their serene look contrasting heavily with the more rugged and battle-scarred appearance of their fellow soldiers. Some of the Nohrians bothered to talk to them, but most simply laughed as their temporary friend talked, being drunk enough to be amused by their accent or manner of speaking.

Beruka stood with her arms folded near one such bar, waiting for Selena to finish a "take-out" that she had ordered. So far, it seemed like the Hoshidan campaign involved an awful lot of drinking and shopping. Sure, there had been a fight, and they weren't deep in Hoshido anyway, but she hoped that there would be more to their trips than those almost touristic visits to other countries and cities. And while one could excuse the Nohrian soldiers's zeal as them wishing to enjoy themselves in a sunny country before engaging in the fights of their lives, the assassin still wished they would take things more seriously, especially since they would be into hostile territory immediately after Izumo, with rows and rows of Hoshidan forces waiting for them without a doubt. And she'd rather have soldiers who aren't brawling with their hang-over to help her in that case.

Selena walked back from her bar, with two wooden in hand and a smile. "Now we're ready to go shopping!" She said, triumphant, before handling Beruka her wooden cup. She peered into it to notice that her glass was full of milk, though the redhead had also decided to acquire some of it for herself. The assassin knew that Selena wasn't one to hold her liquor, as she famously demonstrated a few months before the war, so she was glad that she picked such a drink.

"Drink it up, Ber! You'll get to grow taller!" She said, and Beruka promptly lost whatever newfound respect Selena had managed to accumulate for herself within the last few seconds.

"Amusing." Lied Beruka, though she drank. She didn't feel any poison in the cup, but she knew that some poison could act slowly. Selena was a bit less paranoid than Beruka, and admired the sky and buildings while walking down the streets. Her teammate also tried, but she had something of a hard time enjoying the view. She had a hard time taking her mind off everything that happened, be it her suspicions with Kaze, or her shattered pride, or pending promotion, or… everything with Corrin. Looking down at the street, she couldn't help but be baffled at how the likes of Odin could remain so careless and even happy. The blond man could be found (and heard) at a shop, putting on masks and giving himself a different personality with each one that he put. Niles, meanwhile, quietly commented on each personality.

"AH! BEHOLD THE FOX MAN! THOUGH AM I WISE, BEWARE MY ANGER, FOR I HAVE ACCUMULATED THE EXPERIENCES OF LIFETIMES AND WILL UNLEASH MY WRATH ON THOSE WHO FAIL TO RESPECT MY MIGHT!"

"Spooky."

Odin put on another mask, depicting a woman this time. "Behold, Yuki-Onna! The frozen woman who desperately seek a lover, but is destined to kill those who would embrace her! For her icy grasp doom her victims to succumb to the cold!"

"Sounds like someone I know." Quipped Niles, as Beruka went by. He winked, and the assassin's answer was to not even turn her head in his direction.

"Asshole." Muttered Selena. "If he's getting to you, I can kick his ass."

"If I ever feel like Niles's barbs are getting irritating enough, you will need to shield him from me." Promised Beruka. "But I don't care about what he has to say. And the same should apply to you."

"Hm…" Said Selena. "You're still bothered though, anything I could do to help out my fellow retainer? For free."

Beruka prepared herself to dismiss it but realized that this wouldn't help her endeavor. And besides, it looked like Selena was somewhat aware. "Hm… You can see it?"

"Yeah. You frown just a bit more than usual and you're looking at the ground more often." Beruka corrected those mistakes promptly before eventually turning to stare at Selena.

"… Why would the restaurant allow you to fetch these cups?"

Selena sighed briefly but went on her story. "They just gave them to me. You can take your drink while walking outside and keep the cup as a souvenir, or so I've heard. A lot of the people here just gave them back, but I might keep mine. It'll be a souvenir." She eyed Beruka's cup. "Will you keep yours?"

"Why not?" Admitted the assassin. "Though I fail to understand why you would keep a souvenir. Those objects aren't particularly useful."

"Well, it's in the name. You keep them because you remember a location. I've got quite a few of those." She explained. "See, it's not about being useful. It's about remembering a place and the things that happened in it through them."

"A memento, hm…" Asked Beruka. She touched her bandana a little. It wasn't the same bandana, but she was so used to covering her forehead that she always had one. By now, only Camilla and (unfortunately) Kagero knew what laid beneath it, though she heavily suspected that Selena now did as well, or whoever happened to patch her up once the fighting stopped.

"Is your bandana one?"

"No." She said bluntly. "Perhaps I'll keep the cup."

"Heh, that works. But ya know, we could do even better with that! Huh, mind if we sit down somewhere?"

Beruka agreed, and the two women sat at the table of another bar. They seemed rather understanding about this, or were simply too busy dealing with the drunken soldiers who were pouring in. Either way, both women could easily sit down and continue their chat. The azure-haired woman couldn't help but look around everywhere though. The idea that a random Hoshidan would leap out of the crowd and attempt to stab her right in the torso was well present in her mind.

"Alright, so the idea…" Selena leaned in. "We're going to buy ourselves something like… a ring, or a necklace even!"

"Hm… a necklace would be better." Commented Beruka, taking the time to briefly ponder the question and rub her chin. "Though it depends on the situation, of course." She took the time to drink some of her milk, and Selena curiously stared at her for a small while. It was known as "keeping someone waiting", and the assassin found it surprisingly agreeable to do that. It allowed her to gather her thoughts.

"Ooohh, does Corrin like women with necklaces?" Asked Selena, leaning against the table and smiling smugly. Beruka didn't react, only leaning back and drinking her milk again. The failure of her strategy didn't stop Selena from smiling coyly, already scheming to try to destabilize the assassin again. She made a note about warning Corrin. While the Nohrian was wise to the tricks of her colleague, she knew that the prince was bound to loudly make a scene upon hearing something like this, and for the sake of their dignities, she didn't want him to do that.

"… No." She said. "But if all else fail, a sufficiently durable necklace could be used to strangle someone." She made the motion. "And, if sharp enough, could also be used to open wounds during the attempt…."

"W-w-w-wait Ber." Hissed the young lady. "You can't say something like that in public. And c'mon, we're talking about gifts, not assassination tools! Geez!"

"It wouldn't be used as an assassination tool. There are better options for that. And it would be easy for someone to turn the necklace against me assuming that they enter the right position as well." And she smiled ever so slightly. Selena realized that she was being messed with, though the truth was a bit more complicated.

"Alright, but still. We should get ourselves something like that. We'd remember Izumo like that, but more importantly, we'd remember each other! So I think I'll pick something blue, because of your hair, and you'll pick something red, because of mine!"

"Hm… I see what you mean. However, the necklace would need to be put aside quickly." Noted Beruka. "It could be damaged or grabbed mid-battle after all, and as we'll start to go deeper in Hoshidan territory, attacks will be more and more common."

"Oh, don't worry. They could see use after the war!"

Beruka stared at Selena, in confusion. While the redhead was right to anticipate a peaceful life for herself, the young assassin would likely spend her post-war years fully assimilating into the King's shadow, and something like a necklace would not be seen worn by a member of this prestigious group. Well, the assassin, as prideful as she was in her abilities, actually didn't think much of her peacetime activities beyond her recruitment into the shadowy bodyguards of the king. She knew better than anyone else that a life could be cut short in a single instant.

"… Yeah, after the war." She mulled. "If I had one idea for a souvenir…"

Selena looked interested, but her face betrayed some apprehension as if she expected Beruka to ask her to partake in some bizarre Nohrian blood ritual meant to bond both women so that they would never forget one another. The assassin thought of asking her, as a way to "mess" with her, but she wasn't so sure of her ability to sound sarcastic, and went for an actual explanation.

"We will make ourselves gifts… from what we already have on ourselves, or what we will acquire. We will pick something that could easily remind us of one another." Declared Beruka.

Selena blinked. "I… I see. That makes sense!" She said. "And we won't need to pay, I guess. Ya know, a friend of mine did that." The redhead leaned in. "She gave me something to remember her by before I left."

"Yes. That friend." Answered Beruka. "Where do you come from, Selena? Why would a foreigner walk into Nohr to serve Lady Camilla herself?"

"Heh, do you still believe that I'm a spy?" Teased the young girl, finishing her drink. "I saved you now, c'mon."

"Yes. You did… save me." Beruka could've simply told her that it could be a ploy to gain some trust out of the assassin, but perhaps she was just being a bit too paranoid… It didn't feel right to drop her guard like that, but she knew that she would never be able to get close to others if she always thought that they planned to betray her. It was a tough situation for her to handle, since she genuinely wanted to get close (or at least, felt like she yearned to become friend with Selena) but she had already tasted the edge of betrayal. It wasn't quite easy to just trust people again.

"But I get why you're being distrustful. So, tell ya what, I'm gonna share my whole life story!" She explained. "But if you don't believe me, it's not my fault, alright?"

"If I find your story unrealistic, then I will dump water on your head." Explained Beruka. "Please, do not attempt to joke around. It is important for me to properly know your origins. So that I may be able to identify the reasons behind your arrival and also to know… you."

Selena got into position, leaning against the table and moving her hands. "I was born from the union of a perfect pegasus rider and a swordsman from up north, who overcame his fear of women thanks to-"

"Why would he fear women?"

"-Hey, it's my story, right? So anyway. My parents bonded on the battlefield while battling under the same banner, against an evil mad king." Beruka rolled her eyes at Selena's description of the foe. "Yeah, listen, subtlety isn't the bad guy's strong point. Okay, so… The good guys won. And I was born. Well, my parents had to fight off another invader but once he was done, things were alright!"

Selena stopped smiling a little, and looked down on her table, already looking more forlorn. "But then… something really bad happened. My parents died protecting me… erm… One second, please." She said, briefly contemplating her life again. Beruka had been made aware that it would be beneficial to comfort someone in that situation, so she calmly put her hand on Selena's shoulder and rubbed it slightly. The proud mercenary looked agreeably surprised. "W-whoah, erm… Thanks, Beruka. Hope that Niles won't see that."

"I will gouge out his remaining eye should it come to that." She answered. Selena looked as weirded out as she was comforted by now.

"A-alright. So… Well, me and my friends decided to… to…" The redhead blushed a little. "Timetravelbacktothepast?"

"Pardon me?"

"W-well, you heard me. Look, it's not that weird, huh? We just left a small dimension with a fish in it after all. I'm not being crazy!" She huffed. Some people behind her looked at Selena, and at least one attempted to peer into her cup. When he noticed that there was no alcohol inside, he took some steps backward.

"We decided to go back in time and prevent it all."

"Did you succeed?"

"We… kind of scattered everywhere. One friend got in contact luckily, but I waited on my own." She said. "I couldn't risk a time paradox. Time travel is weird, you know? I mean. It was tough… to just try and ignore that I was on the same continent as my parents and unable to see them, but it was for the good…"

"The good of the mission." Concluded Beruka. "Yes, it would be unfortunate if you were to accidentally erase yourself from history."

"Y-yeah. I had to wait until we were born."

"But what did you know about time travel? Were you warned that somehow disrupting the union between your parents would erase you? Did you perhaps think that the changed flow of events could somehow prevent them from encountering each other or reproducing?"

Selena almost spit the last part of her milk, her face now beet red. "G-geez, that's a bit of a weird thing to say Ber!" When she only earned a grunt in answer, Selena continued with her story. "Two years passed, and I and my friends ended up recruited in the army. I met my parents and-"

"Hid the truth?"

"No. I told them." She said. "I had kind of a grudge against my mom, but I also really, really wanted to see her and dad. I had parental issues, yeah… You understand, right?"

Beruka thought of her dead parents, who abandoned her to the slums when she was barely old enough to stand on her two feet, and then her mind drifted towards Goulet, the man who had made her who she is, and quietly finished her drink. "Yes."

"So… It was kind of a rough start, but we eventually fixed things and we managed to stop the bad future from happening. Hurray, right?"

"Yes. Hurray."

"So I took one or two years to pause and then I… decided to explore the world." She said. "See the world, that sort of thing. I took a boat with some friends and we went to Dreiz, eventually. Once I reached Nohr, well, I just made my way to the capital. we had to take out a lot of bandits on the way and someone saw mus do it eventually, so we got noticed and were offered to join as retainers. And thus…" She pointed at her fellow retainer. "I met you."

"Me." Said Beruka, flatly. "Hm… I believe you."

"Whuh? Oh, I mean, nice!"

"Well, I do not believe your whole story, but it does appear that you hail from another continent. Which one would it be?"

"Huh, not the one with Qliphoth and all the others. I'm from a land further south. Huh, anyway, you seem to be accepting of my story."

"… Are Odin and Laslow from that continent as well? No need to look surprised. You hang out with them often and you appeared at the same time."

"Y-yeah. But don't tell them too much though, alright? It's supposed to be a secret."

"Not a single word shall be spoken to them." Answered Beruka. "And I would rather not interact with Odin regardless. I find myself at odds with his personality." Her eyes rose to stare at Selena's. "Does friendship include accepting one's more irritating personality tics and behavior?"

"Yep. Well, he's not always like that. And he's not bad a guy, right? Oh, and also, yeah, being a friend means that you will sometimes have to deal with weird behavior, and you will need to regulate it and tolerate it. Some people express themselves weirdly sometimes, because of their past, and you can't just try to repress it out of them. You just gotta accept them for who they are while also helping them regulate themselves at times. That's the gist of it!"

Selena leaned back and folded her arms. "Besides, if you ask me, he's hardly the worst, right? Look at someone like Niles or Peri. Well, especially Peri. They're crazy!" While saying this, Selena put her finger next to her head and made a spinning motion. "Especially Peri. When Odin talks about his cursed fell hand, it's just a fun thing. When she says that she's going to string people up by their innards though? She's just no kidding!"

"Niles was raised in the slums." Explained Beruka. "As much as I loathe to defend him, a life in the slums will impact someone even long after their integration in polite society. We had to kill to crawl to the top and stay there, even at a young age, and this is something that will accompany you forever, even after you've left the slums."

"Oh… I see. An-"

"Peri would've been put to death if she weren't a noble."

"Given the crazies that we have in our hierarchy… But you said we, so, did you…"

"Yes. That should be evident." Said Beruka. "But I will not tell my entire life story, Selena. I hope that you will understand that this is a rather difficult matter to aboard, and even after all these years, it is difficult for me to address it." Confessed the assassin, stumbling now and then out of embarrassment. Weak, weak, weak, she thought to herself.

"Yeah, don't worry. You'll tell me when you want to, alright?"

"Very well." Answered Beruka. "Regardless… You speak often of your friends, but why would you leave them behind to explore? I'm curious."

"Well, I had to hang out with them for a while." She crossed her arms. "Sometimes, you just need to go on with your lives and all that. Friends aren't people you just always stick around with, ya know? You find them at a crossroad, you hug, all that kind of stuff. And besides, I know I'll be reunited with them once." Selena smiled sweetly and looked up at the sky. "I promised them such, and I'm not going to let some dinky Hoshidan change that!"

"Hm… and why did you not go to Hoshido?"

"Well, a land of peace and quiet is nice, but I guess I yearned for some action." She explained. "Though it is a nice place, it's too bad that we're warring against it. I mean, sure, the people of Nohr are suffering and Hoshidans are being jerks but there must be another way, ya know?"

"Centuries of accumulated resentment, Selena." Said Beruka. "And you've seen evil men before, haven't you? Humans will slaughter each other. For glory, for money, for revenge, for land… There is no need for some higher power to exist and pull our strings when humanity itself is quite capable of intentionally harming itself."

"Y-yeah, I guess…"

Selena sighed and put her elbows on the table. Beruka paused a little, and only spoke up after a little lull.

"… So, will we go our separate ways if we survive?"

"Well, first off, neither of us is dying!" Corrected Selena, holding up her finger. "And secondly, well, we'll see but don't worry, I've still got to see the continent after all. Well, erm, hopefully Garon won't have burned everything though…" She scratched the back of her head and peered at Beruka. "… But what do you plan to do afterward?"

"I don't know." Retorted Beruka. "I will simply keep serving Lady Camilla. That is my duty. Perhaps I will try to… "hang out" with other retainers." She moved her hands to form air quotes at the end.

"Or Corrin!"

Beruka corrected immediately with a severe "Lord Corrin."

"Heh, alright. Lord Corrin."

Beruka looked at Selena and smirked slowly. "… Heh." Selena also huffed in triumph. The assassin moved her head to the left and the right slowly, still keeping that smirk, and briefly looked away.

Her decision made her notice a familiar face in the crowd: A woman, with jet-black hair, and a particular hair-bang that covered part of her face. Her expression was a neutral one, or she was too far away to spot whatever smirk she had on. She could, however, see that the ninja was staring right at her, and she didn't look nearly as shocked as the assassin, whom she taunted with a smile before bolting back into the crowd when her rival got up to approach her, moving through the crowd almost as if she could somehow pass through them.

There was something about it that interrogated her, but she dismissed it. It was likely a hallucination or it was a sign that things were about to go down yet again. But would Hoshido risk an attack on Nohrians when it was explicitly forbidden? The archduke perhaps couldn't summon the wrath of the gods for such offenses, and Hoshido had more resources than Nohr, but could they take such a hit?

She knew how vicious ninjas could be.

"Hey, did you see a ghost?" Questioned Selena.

Beruka took a little while before answering, being not quite sure if she wasn't hallucinating. "… No, the woman I saw is very much still alive."

Selena seemed to understand and rose from her seat as well. The serenity that Beruka had earned during her brief talk with Selena was long gone, and she lost her new smirk.

"That woman is here." Continued Beruka, slowly walking into the crowd. Selena grumbled and followed her, putting her hand right onto her arm.

"Hey, Ber!" She warned. "Don't just rush in and follow her, alright? It's not like we're exactly allowed to do that."

Beruka freed her arm. Annoyingly, Selena was right about both. Was her pride enough to overtake her common sense? Attempting to settle the score right here and now could likely be seen badly by the archduke, and it wasn't like there would be no more occasions for both women to fight… This wasn't like her. However, she had bigger things to deal with. Or, less charitably, the same pride that nearly had her engage Kagero in an impromptu round 2 didn't want her to take the time to self-reflect, as if she didn't want to acknowledge her failing any further.

"But still… Perhaps we should head back into the palace." Said Beruka.

Selena accepted the idea. "Alright, I'll warn the others."

"No. It won't be necessary. A good bunch of our fellow soldiers are too drunk to be of any help. We'll see if we can't try to warn the Archduke ourselves. Come." She waved her arm and began to make her way across the crowd. The ambiance was still peaceful, but in the past minutes, the guards were separating some Nohrian soldiers from what she recognized as Hoshidan men and women.

Amongst all the crowd noise, Beruka heard a familiar snickering. "Well, if the Hoshidans wanted to sneak in, they're done."

"… It's not that, Selena. They've been invited." Spoke Selena. "Look at how many of them there are right now."

Selena seemed to understand, and Beruka hurried on her way to the palace where the royals were supposed to be meeting Izana, though she remained cautious to avoid alerting her fellow Nohrians or her foes. Something told her that the Nohrians weren't the only ones to bring their royal family to the reunion…

"Hang on, Corrin."

…

He remembered the pain as the legendary blade Raijinto carved deeply into his flesh, shocking him with power comparable to a thunderstorm. And the conflict with Takumi in Cheve's wood, where his sword had been broken and he had learned a terrible truth, was still present in his mind, even when he had failed to address what had been said in that fateful night.

His sword had been repaired and he had grown far mightier, thanks to his training and newfound grasp on his draconic abilities, but he was still scared at the idea of facing down Ryoma and Takumi. He didn't want to show it to avoid looking weak, and he desperately wished he could get rid of that weakness, but he was also scared of the thought of killing those two, or even Hinoka, who was herself quite formidable, or even Sakura who, while not as deadly as her siblings, was a competent healer who could be targeted by a less scrupulous Nohrian…

Speaking of her, she was hiding behind Hinoka, who looked ready to defend her sister. Ryoma also moved in front of them, just in case. He was almost synchronized with Xander, who quickly walked in front of Elise. Camilla moved to the side of Corrin though, after noticing that Elise was being shielded, and Leo did likewise. Azura approached but remained behind Corrin, and in the end, Takumi alone attempted to walk up to his hated brother, stopping a few meters away from the blue-haired young man.

Everyone was surprised or upset in some manner, with only Azura and Leo keeping their cool in the middle of the rather tense situation. Izana was also unfazed by the sudden hostility, moving his head back and forth between each group of siblings.

Takumi pointed an accusatory finger at Corrin, deliberately using the arm that Corrin snapped in half quite a while ago. "You!" He said. "What are you doing here? Izana! Have you forgotten what happened the last time a Nohrian royal met a Hoshidan one on supposed neutral ground?!"

Ryoma moved to grab his brother by the collar and hold him back. "Takumi!" He said. "Though I understand your anger and surprise, we still have to show proper behavior to our host!" The lion of Hoshido turned his head to glance at the Archduke and bowed politely. "My apologies, Archduke." He let go of his brother, though he remained close, and kept his eyes off the Nohrians for now. "The war has taken a toll on us all, and with all due respect for one of your position, encountering our sworn enemies in such a place is rather… surprising."

Takumi turned to sneer at Corrin directly. "Yes, what are you even doing here? Izumo is a peaceful country. What business do you have here?" The prince frowned. "Unless… is one innocent town not enough for you, dear brother?"

Corrin prepared to speak up, but he felt a light tap on his back. Glancing back, he saw Azura, mouthing a quiet "no". Deciding to listen to her, the prince turned around again but kept his eyes off the archer.

"What scandalous insinuations." Said Leo. "Nohr has been a sworn ally to Izumo for centuries. Prince Takumi, I recommend that you gather whatever dignity you have left." He pointed to the back of the room. "And back away. You are only making a complete fool of yourself." However, Leo himself couldn't resist making a small dig. "As an archer, the idea of hanging back and leaving the actual work to others is familiar to you, is it not?"

"The word honor has no business being pronounced by a Nohrian." Answered Takumi, though his brother's insistent stare convinced him to back off.

Izana, smelling tension between the two families, stepped in the middle of the room. "Now hold your horses, my friend! I, the glorious Izana, have gathered you together for collaboration! And needless to say, cooperation doesn't really happen via insults!"

"The Hoshidans have been attacking our people while cowering behind their barrier for years, milord." Said Xander. "And while they pretend to be peace-loving, their army was surprisingly quick to swarm upon our lands to burn our cities and further ravage our weakened landscape."

"There would have been no need for a barrier if your king was a sane man." Answered Ryoma. Both he and Xander had stepped forth, but while their tone was cordial enough, it was obvious that both men were barely restraining themselves from attacking the other. "Many times by now, you have lived up to your description as glory-seeking barbarians. Should I take the time to retell the numerous nefarious deeds performed by your kingdom, prince Xander? We might be done by tomorrow."

"My father was betrayed by King Sumeragi after the war against Qliphoth." Retorted Xander. "You Hoshidans rewarded my father for his immense victory against our common enemy by stabbing Nohr in the back and ensuring that it wouldn't find a way to undo what those cursed invaders had done. Why should he accept such an odious betrayal? Why should our people be doomed to live in the blight lands when their scheming neighbors have more resources than they know what to do with? And your father thought that this wasn't enough. He went to Cheve to further conspire with them, and was intercepted by Father on the way here."

Ryoma made an irritated smile. By now, the entire room was silent. Both men had their arms folded now, and were pressing on their armor so hard that Corrin's superior eyesight allowed him to see cracks appearing over the metal, thanks to the sheer pressure that was being exerted on it by their fingers.

"Ah, wise of you to bring up this accident, Prince Xander! You truly demonstrated to everyone just how callous Nohrian propaganda truly is!" He almost spat. "My father intended to meet with yours to discuss new trades, but he was ambushed and murdered by him! And throughout that tragedy, our dear brother, Kamui, was kidnapped, and you and your siblings worked hard on corrupting him." The armored man's eyes briefly drifted towards Corrin. "Though, as much as he denies it, his inherent Hoshidan noblesse is still protecting him from your western barbarism… But think about it. If my father intended to plot with Cheve, why would he have taken Kamui with him? He was but a toddler at the time. Why bring along one so young for such a task?"

Xander prepared to shoot back but Izana stepped in. "Alright, things may not be quite working out. I'll tell ya though, discussing over a meal solve everything! You just can't get mad once you experience Izumo-style sushis!" The archduke took a sushi off the plate and pointed at it with a dopey smile on his face. No one reacted to it, too concentrated on the standoff to bother listening to him. Seeing the work that was ahead of him, the great Archduke expressed his frustration with a sigh. Corrin somewhat wondered how he managed to be so carefree considering his duties.

"Alright. Yes, you were all surprised, and there's a bunch of very distracting things happening! So! Let's call it quit for now! But tonight, at the feast, put on your best smiles and talk about what you have in common! Maybe you've got something in common! Like the way your two families just happen to have one elder brother, one older sister, a younger brother, and a young sister! Fate has a funny way to do things, doesn't it?"

"… Yes, Lord Izana. My apologies for the disruption." Said Xander and Ryoma, at the same time. The eccentric seer smiled.

"Here's a start! Anyway. You all have your rooms. If it were up to me, I would've made you share them but I feel like some of you would have slept outside! Hehe! Well, I wouldn't blame you. The floor outside is really nice." He pondered. "Anyway. It's taken me a lot of time and a lot of trickery to get your two armies to get in without one noticing the other! Oh, you wouldn't imagine the complexity! So please, let there be no further fighting! Think about the hard work you'd be ruining!"

The two families backed off, being lead away to their rooms. Takumi kept his glare on Corrin until both men had left the room. Xander kept his cool so far, but the younger prince could very easily tell that he was greatly upset with the situation. Being put face to face with the Hoshidans was one thing, but he knew that they probably had brought a mighty army with them. This messed up the plan: They had genuinely never expected the entire royal family to be there, all together.

The royals were introduced to their rooms, but decided to form a brief reunion in Xander's own. Out of precaution, they checked for attempted eavesdroppers.

"… I'm just as surprised as you all must be." Admitted Xander, annoyance clear in his voice though he was as impeccably composed as ever. "I never thought that Lord Izana would attempt to gather us together for impromptu peace talk…"

"He's an odd man." Said Leo. "We'll need to see if those dogs won't try anything while we're present. They could try to steal our weapon, or poison our troops, or whatever cowardly move our enemies will think of." Using his left hand to support the elbow of his right arm, Leo stroked his chin with his finger. "Hoshidan ninjas are skilled at sabotage and might manage to trick Izana and the others."

"But isn't he pal with the gods?" Spoke Elise. "He could ask them!"

"I do believe that listening to the gods can be taxing. The old texts say that their power is such that even a whisper from the divine can cause fatal damage to a human. And Hoshido has the resources to carry on, and the willingness to do anything to survive."

Elise looked troubled, though it was fair to say that all the royals were immensely confused. Even Azura, who always looked like she knew what to do, seemed to be lost in her contemplation.

"Well…" Said Corrin. "I think I'm going to try to talk with them though." All five siblings managed to simultaneously snap their heads towards him, almost bearing the same expression of shock.

"Talk?!" Said Xander. "Corrin, surely you cannot be serious! They will certainly attempt to lie to you to try and influence your morale." The oldest of the brothers rose from the seat he was sitting on. "They will attempt to demotivate you or try and find a way to hurt you through their words."

"Yes. Corrin, I know why you probably mean to talk to them, and it pains me to have to try and restrain you, but consider that they are your enemies. And we have all seen the hatred that this archer has for you. Please, reconsider your option."

The prince quietly considered his words before speaking up. "It is true, but I may never get another chance to talk to them in a quiet setting. I… I have heard things from Takumi back in Cheve, and I wish to see what Ryoma and the others have to say about this." He couldn't help but bit his lips. He wanted to just stay behind and "enjoy" the day with his true family, but he felt that fate had handed him a chance to settle things with his supposed true family, before a tragedy occurred. Because while he hoped to settle things peacefully, Corrin was now certain that some of the royal Hoshidan would die by the war's end, to his regret.

He had never been good at protecting the things he loves, after all.

"… I see. In that case, if you permit it, I'll accompany you." Said Xander. "I cannot, in good faith, allow you to talk to them on your own. As for everyone else, tread carefully. It might be useful to see if we can't have our retainers keep an eye on the weaponry or check for signs of suspicious activity."

"Got it. I'll try to help with that. There's not much to do here." Leo got up and dusted himself up. "And I've never been into lavish parties."

"Could I come with you, Leo? We never get to hang out!"

Leo looked down at Elise and waged his finger. "We're not hanging out, we're making sure we won't be sabotaged by the Hoshidans… Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt if we stayed together. It's to be sure."

"Well, I'm pairing with Azura!" Said Camilla. "We're going to see just how Izana managed to have all those bloodthirsty troops gather here and see if there's not another reason behind this!"

Azura, caught off-guard, struggled to answer. "I… I accept, Camilla." She said. "I will help you… though I hope I'll be there to provide some support to Corrin later."

"Alright, then let's head out, boys and girls!"

Xander and Corrin left first, and begun to head for the wing of the palace where the Hoshidans were supposed to be. Despite his determination to get some answers out of his brother, he dragged his feet a little. Confronting Sakura and Hinoka was one thing, but he outright dreaded the confrontation with Takumi, and as grateful as he was towards Xander for his decision to stick up with him, Corrin was a little bit irritated at the idea that the crown prince's presence could lower his chances of getting the truth out of his siblings since they probably wouldn't share it in front of his brother, and Xander was unlikely to just back off and leave the room.

"It's a shame that we had this trip interrupted." Said Xander. "I doubt that we'll find another occasion to rest once we really enter Hoshidan territory."

"Yeah…" Answered Corrin. He didn't blame the Hoshidans though, since they didn't know about it. "Well, we could always do something once this mess is all over, right?"

Xander smiled sadly. "Unfortunately, we'll have much on our hands even after our victory. I will need to accept my royal duties, and we will need to ensure the stability of Dreiz." He was nice enough not to slip a "remember?" afterward. Corrin nodded, though he was admittedly disappointed. A tiny voice did remind him that he agreed to it, but he still felt, for the briefest of instants, almost frustrated at the idea of having to do more things after the victory.

"But I do understand you. It is frustrating that those matters will prevent us from enjoying some time together." Xander carefully contemplated his options before speaking up again. "Perhaps if we get to the bottom of this in time, we could use the rest of the day to train, like at the Northern fortress."

Corrin's conflicted expression changed into a more joyful one as he heard the news. "That'd be great! But erm…" He checked the palace, and noticed a few servants were around. It seemed strange that such a large castle could be undermanned, but he dismissed it as Izana's odd personality. Perhaps they just basked in the sun elsewhere? It wasn't very responsible but it would be rude to disparage another culture, so the dragon prince didn't comment on it.

"While we're on the way, and I know… well, no, nevermind."

"Hm? What may be troubling you, Corrin? Do not hesitate to talk to the others or me at any time. In those trying times, we must communicate well between one another."

"You're right, but this is a pretty embarrassing question, so…"

"Don't worry. I'll be able to answer it." Answered the Prince, sounding a bit more curious than he would like to show it.

While Xander seemed unapproachable at times, he took his sibling duties rather seriously. The heir to the throne did take it upon himself to explain to a younger Corrin the biological mysteries of growing up and how exactly new Nohrians were made, though things were admittedly very awkward and Corrin needed Gunter's help to fully understand the implications of growing up. So he figured that he could talk about this subject to Xander. He could also talk to Camilla but he feared that things would get even more uncomfortable.

"So… huh, big brother." He looked around one more time and switched language just in case. "Could you give me counsels about picking up… girls?"

Xander blinked and refrained himself from blushing, understanding what his brother was talking about. He, too, proceeded to look around, fearing that his rival, Ryoma, would catch him awkwardly delivering romantic tips to his younger brother. Briefly, Corrin wondered how the Hoshidan prince would have handled the topic, and even imagined the Samurai interrupting the conversation to offer his own advice, but then he remembered that he burned that bridge.

"I… Well, if I may be honest, you may have higher priorities but I understand. At your age, there is a certain… call that is difficult to ignore." He whispered. "I will attempt to keep this between ourselves, and will reserve this for later, but if I have one information to give, confidence is appreciated in a man. It is not always the case, of course, but attempts to always look like you're in control."

He coughed a little. "… If I may ask, who is the woman that has brought your attention?" Corrin gasped. How would his brother react if he learned that Corrin was "digging" (as Nohrian soldiers would put it) Beruka, a cold assassin? He knew that she wasn't as bad as she seemed to be, and Camilla did as well, but there was some etiquette to royal romance. Even Garon, who was admittedly a very lecherous man in his younger years, mostly married nobility, and only got away with marrying a "commoner" woman, Arete, because he had the prestige, personality, and power to be unquestioned by his subjects, something that the more awkward Corrin rather lacked.

Of course, Corrin had but a single gesture to give to the crusty old nobles who would object ("How rude!" Would say Felicia), and he knew that his siblings would support him, but marrying an assassin from the slums was an odd move… Well, if she was willing to marry him of course. He wasn't entirely sure if she was into him since Beruka was skilled at concealing her emotions and wasn't the kind to delve into romantic gestures.

"… It's not Peri, is it?" Asked Xander, pulling Corrin out of his brief reverie. Corrin immediately shook his hands and head.

"No! Not Peri! She has an interesting personality but she and I disagree on a lot of things. No, it's-"

The sound of footsteps interrupted the conversation, and for now, the story of Corrin's romance vanished. Especially when the people who approached them revealed themselves: Ryoma, Takumi, and Hinoka, with Sakura missing this time. Upon noticing their brother and Xander, the three Hoshidans stopped, almost as surprised as the Nohrians. Takumi recovered quickly and moved to say something, but he wasn't as swift as Hinoka, who managed to quickly cover his mouth with her hand, hushing him with the other. He seemingly understood, but still glared at Corrin in silence. The dragon prince stared back in silence.

"Kamui." Said Ryoma. "It is… surprising to meet you here." He moved his eyes to glance at Xander. "Prince Xander."

"Prince Ryoma. Were you intending to kidnap my brother?" Asked Xander. "As you did with Azura?"

"I would never do anything that your father would look favorably upon, Prince Xander."

"Alright, cut it out." Said Hinoka, taking the reins. "We know why we're here, so let's not waste our time with insults." Corrin found some warmth in having his Hoshidan sister seemingly team up with him for the sake of the negotiation. Ryoma sighed and silently jammed his thumb at an empty room nearby, prompting the royals to enter it. However, both Nohrians did it last, and while Corrin stood in the room, the blond prince of Nohr opted to take position near a corner, close to the door. If the negotiations degenerated badly enough, he could yank his younger brother by the collar and quickly establish distance between himself and the three Hoshidans.

Hinoka stood close, at a seat close to Corrin. Ryoma sat in front of him, with a fair distance, and Takumi went at the farthest place from Corrin. If the room led to a garden, he would've probably walked into the garden itself to spectate on the conversation.

"Sakura says hello, by the way." Said Hinoka. Whereas the others were in their uniforms, she was wearing an elaborate red kimono, having switched between the first meeting and this one. She wasn't the type of person who'd put on another set of clothing for vanity, so she probably meant to put him at ease by putting herself more at ease. "We couldn't quite take her with us, sorry, she's a bit shy… But she has her retainers to watch over her."

Takumi prepared to say something unpleasant again but Ryoma, his current handler, vaguely shook his head with a disapproving look, and that was enough to get him to back off.

"It's alright, I, erm, say hello too." Answered Corrin. He awkwardly shifted in his seat, crossing his legs and then uncrossing them before deciding to lean to the side. "So, how are… things?"

"… Well, there's a war." Answered Hinoka, who was only a bit less awkward than Corrin was. "Look, this is an occasion for us to talk before the actual invasion of our country starts. As much as I would like to talk of menial things, Kamui, the circumstances just don't encourage that."

Corrin put his hands on his knees. "Alright. The war… First off, I do not want to eradicate Hoshido. And I will not do anything needlessly cruel to its citizens." When Takumi scoffed, the young man grasped his knees a little bit harder but kept a straight face. "We've agreed to it along with Xander and everyone else."

"Corrin…" Said Hinoka, as gently as she could. Somehow, her demeanor was hurting him more than Takumi's remarks. She had worked her whole life to try to get him back, according to Ryoma, and he made it all useless when he switched to Nohr. But even afterward, even now that she was face-to-face with him, she was still calm with him. Somewhere in the back of his mind however, he imagined that she was just as angry with him as Takumi, and was just skilled at hiding it. When she reached out to try to touch his hand, in fact, he almost reeled, terrified at the idea that she would grasp his hand all of a sudden and hold him in place for Ryoma or Takumi to attack.

He sent the idea back where it belonged, ashamed at even thinking it, but he couldn't help but feel a bit of fear, even when her gesture was as gentle as it looked.

"Plenty of Hoshidan lives will still be lost, and the orders of your king are considered absolute. You will certainly live up to your premise, but what about the others? What about those who would set half of Cheve on fire?"

"Hans is an animal. If he steps out of line, I'm not going to let myself be walked over." Promised Corrin. "As for Garon, surely the six of us will convince him to stop."

They narrowed their eyes, and Corrin almost put his hands on his mouth, having noticed that he didn't use the proper term.

"Heh, as if the Nohrians will want to stop." Commented Takumi. "You've been taught to hate, haven't you? You hate our country because its soil is prosperous and the people are cultured. What makes you think that the average grunt will stop because he's been told to?"

"The average Nohrian is disciple-"

"Ah!" Takumi took a few steps closer, arms folded. "The average Nohrian lives in those miserable slums, in the very hearts of your decrepit cities, and has the empathy stomped out of them at an early age." He looked down upon his brother. "What makes you think that those killers will stop because of an order?"

Xander put his hand on the seat, and Corrin began to breathe just a little quicker. "The slums are a great source of shame and I will work tirelessly to erase them. But you must bring them up. Surely, you are aware of just what happened to Nohr, right? I will not blame the average Hoshidan for not knowing, but surely those born of Sumeragi are aware of Qliphoth's dark deed?"

Hinoka looked up at him, and there was fire in her eyes. "We are, but our father has tried to trade with Nohr, and look at what had happened."

"If it did happen like this, then I am regretful of what had been done." Said Xander, and Hinoka looked slightly surprised. "But my father would not throw away such an offer. Yes, his actions have been cruel, but he truly believes in saving Nohr. He would not have refused such an offer."

"Unfortunately." Said Ryoma. "Your father seems to believe that saving Nohr means destroying Hoshido. And surely you understand that I cannot let this happen. Even if we agreed, it would be too late to start discussing peace." He seemed regretful as he spoke, but regained some firmness with his last words. "Besides, the people of Nohr have triggered an explosion in our capital, and our queen has been slain. In the past, Mikoto's kind words have prevented an all-out war against Nohr, even after the cowardly ambush on our father, but this time, we just cannot allow an enemy nation to take our leaders without doing a thing to stop them. Our pride will not let us do so."

Hinoka seemed to be resigned as well. "Yes…" She said, gaining more and more firmness with each word. "Kamui, I would love to make peace, but Nohr took so many of my compatriots and family away from me that I… that I refuse to just let bygones be bygones. For our father, for our mother, for you, and for the lives taken away by Nohrian guile and weaponry, I will fight against the Nohrians. And if we ever meet on the battlefield, then I… will need to treat you as an enemy."

Corrin slowly understood just why they wanted to talk to him. It wasn't a matter of trying to figure out how to reach peace, or an attempt at establishing common ground at least. They wished to warn him. In the coming battles, should fate decide to put them against each other, and it will, then they will strike without mercy. Sympathetic he may be, at the end of the day, he's still one of the leaders behind the invasion of Hoshido, and it would be hypocritical to hold back on him considering his growing power and, above all, status.

"… I see. Well, if I were to face you in battle, know that I… wouldn't kill you." Mumbled Corrin, failing to be as confident as them. Xander glanced down at him, in surprise. "I know that this looks like an empty reassurance, and I know that things will not go back to normal afterward, but I will not have the blood of my family on my hands." He said.

Ryoma's reply was nearly as quick as he was. "If you hold back against us, you'll die." He warned. "I know that you have become stronger since our last meeting. Few could so easily corner Saizo… But I warn you, brother, we will be fighting at our best, and training as well. Do not think that you will be able to beat the likes of us while holding back."

"I see…" He said, then, an idea appeared in his head and Corrin pulled himself out of his slump. "Wait! I've got to tell you something!"

"What would that be?" Said Hinoka, a bit wary.

"The people who attacked the capital… They weren't Nohrians, I'm sure of it." Said Corrin. All three siblings frowned. "Look, do you remember that hooded man? And those figures with a purple aura?"

"Obviously." Said Ryoma. "That hooded figure is a fine swordsman, if it managed to survive my wrath for so long."

"Yes, wouldn't a fighter like this be known back in Nohr? And just in general. At Cheve, in the wood, Takumi and I were attacked by similar figures. Invisible soldiers, capable of resisting death-dealing blows, wielding superhuman strength-" All, but Takumi, rose their eyebrows in a synchronized manner, a little stunned at his description of those zombie soldiers. He couldn't blame them, even if he was somewhat annoyed. Only Ryoma was present, since Hinoka had to put the survivors to safety, and Takumi was away, and the prince only clashed with the hooded man. "… They were dressed in uniforms of the two countries and seemed to be undead. Maybe those were responsible for it all?"

"Invisible zombie soldiers would have started it? Kamui…"

"Takumi will confirm that I was right." Continued Corrin, desperate to get some answers. "Right?"

He looked up at his brother, who actually seemed a little hesitant. To Corrin's horror though, the elite archer's expression hardened very quickly. "What nonsense are you talking about? You broke my arm, and I only escaped because some of my soldiers bravely delayed both you and this rabid woman."

"T-Takumi!" Said Corrin, surprised and indignant. "Y-you can't do this! You've seen it with your own eyes! Why would you lie?!" All he got for an answer was a sardonic laugh.

"Showing your true colors, brother!" Said Takumi, with a calm, if sarcastic, smirk on his face. "Do you think that Ryoma and Hinoka would've brought your lies anyway? Invisible zombies? Don't make me laugh. Those fiends were the result of some twisted Nohrian magic, the same one that fueled your old sword. If we were dealing with some third enemy, then it's mighty convenient that the Nohrians were at our frontier just after the fall of the barrier, is it not?"

"We keep our army close to the barrier to prevent a surprise attack." Piped in Xander. "And with the disappearance of Corrin, it was obvious that we'd be close to the canyon."

Takumi, however, ignored him. "And even if those fiends are not the product of some demonic sorcery… Then so what? They haven't been heard from again, and we have an enemy who's just as inhuman at our gates." Hoshido's younger prince put his left hand on his chin, while using his other hand to support his elbow, and shook his head with a sad expression on his face. "Are you that broken about the loss of Yato? Are you so convinced of your status as a chosen one that you have to invent some nebulous third faction, plotting behind the scenes to ensure our downfall? What really happened in that forest is that you attacked me, broke my arm, nearly seized my weapon and ruthlessly killed the brave men and women sent to help me, before turning your murderous gaze towards that town."

"Enough!" Yelled Corrin. "She's not a rabid woman, and I'm not the one who burnt Cheve, why can't you accept that? Listen, I know that the circumstances have been extremely hard! I can emphasize with you! But I'm not going to let you insult me any longer! If you don't have anything meaningful to say, then leave! Go back to your side of the castle or shut your mouth and stay in your corner!" Ryoma looked set to intervene but Corrin pointed at him. "But beforehand, I want to know straight out of you! In Cheve, Takumi told me about the truth. Those letters, me not being Sumeragi's child!" His finger trembled a little. "Tell me, while there's still time, about this!"

Takumi looked utterly enraged, but Hinoka got up and grabbed him by the shoulder. While her gesture was gentle, there was some firmness to it. "I'll escort Takumi back to our side. He's… See you tonight, Kamui."

"… See you tonight."

They left, closing the sliding door, and Ryoma decided to take a few steps backward, wary of being ambushed. Corrin gathered his breath, and felt Xander's hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright, Corrin?"

"Y-yes. Anyway, what can you tell me about the letters?"

"… I will tell you." Said Ryoma. "But you… you weren't supposed to know it. Well, to be more accurate, we would talk about this later, had you remained with us."

"I take it that you are not Corrin's siblings?" Said Xander, a hint of triumph in his voice.

"Yes… It is a long story, though. Listen. Mikoto is not our mother." He said. "And Sumeragi is not your father. However, you are her son, and as a result, you are a prince of Hoshido before you are a prince of Nohr." Ryoma looked away. "As for how your mother came into our lives…"

Corrin tried to sound as imperious as he did a few seconds ago, but struggled not to sound outright pleading. "Please, I just… I just want to know about my mother. I want to know how she came into the royal family, and if she ever… ever left a hint of who she used to be before. I feel like only you and a select few know this, and you're the only one who'd be willing to tell! I-I just want to know more about her…"

Ryoma allowed a hint of sadness to appear into his eyes and sat down. "Very well. I'll tell you as much as I know about your mother and origins, I-"

Before the red prince could begin, though, the door opened again and a few Nohrian soldiers entered the room. Surprisingly, they had their armor on and wielded regular, but deadly, iron spear. Even more surprisingly, Izana stood behind them, with an unsettling smirk on his face. "Ah, it looks like I'm interrupting something!" Gloated tie leader. "Ah, well, you'll be able to resume it later. Guards!"

The guards moved to surround Ryoma, and the prince moved his hand to unsheathe Raijinto… only to realize, too late, that he had deliberately put it away! The treacherous Archduke chuckled and pulled out the weapon's sheath, with the legendary katana in it. "Looking for this, my liege?"

"What is the meaning of this, Lord Izana? Are you working with Nohr?!"

Both Corrin and Xander looked back, too shocked to speak up yet. The Archduke took a few steps forward and closed the door. "Ah, ol' Izana did refuse my offer! But thankfully, I had a plan for that!"

He snapped his fingers, and purple smoke briefly surrounded him. It vanished quickly, revealing none other than the man that Corrin met in Cyrkensia: Zola!

"Greetings, Lord Corrin, Lord Xander! I do hope that you've enjoyed my acting!"

…

A/N: I'm very sorry rome, haha, but I hope that you'll like what I'm going to try.

We get a lot of talk. It's actually the longest chapter yet I think! I guess I'm just having some time on my hand, or I'm feeling inspired!

Regardless, I hope that you'll like what I've done with Izumo! Izana's fun, so I didn't change him.

Anyway, I do hope that you'll like what you read! Don't hesitate to post reviews, they're very helpful and I appreciate them!

See ya soon!


	24. The Usurpation

The situation probably felt very familiar for Ryoma. He, a Hoshidan of royal blood, was now finding himself surrounded by hostile Nohrian soldiers throughout a meeting with Nohrians of noble blood, even as it happened over supposedly neutral ground. His facial expression, a mixture of shock and pure rage, showed that he probably realized the nature of the situation. In fact, instead of surrendering, the Hoshidan heir raised his hands, taking a defensive posture. Zola laughed a little, and the soldiers surrounding Ryoma smirked in confidence. How fearful could he be without Raijinto, they thought? Even Corrin thought that this was a fight that his brother likely couldn't win, and immediately pointed at Zola.

"Zola! Whatever you're doing, you need to-"

"Oh, Milord!" The dwarfish man wheeled around and gazed upon his lord. There was a mad glint in his eyes, and he rubbed his hands perhaps a little too excitedly. "I know what I'm doing! I have to admit, I was a little panicked when all three gathered together, but you managed to get that angry little pineapple of a prince and his sister away from here! I had to admit, it was a pretty smart move!"

"You would dare to lay a hand on my siblings?!" Roared Ryoma, indignantly. The Nohrian soldiers reflexively took a step back before advancing again. Even in his rather difficult position, he looked mightier than all those soldiers put together. The gloating Zola, however, was not fazed, though he discretely moved his hand to seize a tome, gesturing at his soldiers with his other hand. Xander seemed to be observing the scene, aware that the enraged Samurai would be able to break through the thin line of defense. And he refused to let his wrath full upon Corrin, though he didn't seem to care about Zola, only really getting closer to the former.

"Why, yes! We even managed to get the small one! It was a tough affair, I'll tell you, so it'd be nice if you came along quie-"

Ryoma moved with the swiftness of the wind and grasped the wooden handle of the closest spear. The weapon's owner barely managed to realize just what was about to fall on him before Hoshido's proud prince yanked the weapon backward, sending the soldier flying off his feet by the sheer force and hurling him like an unwitting projectile towards the closest fellow. Nohrian as he was, he refused to just try and stop his companion's flight with a spear thrust. However, he didn't pick the next best option (dodging), and barely managed to lower his spear before the man crashed into him, sending them both crashing into an unconscious heap in a corner of the room. Ryoma twirled the spear that he held expertly, and Corrin remembered that the prince specialized in plenty of weapons, even if he specialized himself in swords.

His etiquette demanding him not to shed blood on Izumo, or perhaps deeming the soldiers not worth the honor of being slain, the lion of Hoshido wacked two of the three remaining soldiers with a sweep of the spear's wooden handle, knocking them out cold, though the sheer force behind the attack outright wrecked the weapon. The last soldier attempted to use this to charge, but his royal adversary hardly needed the weapon anyway. Swiftly, he dodged the stab by jumping to the right and knocked Zola's guard using a powerful punch. By now, only three Nohrians were still conscious, and he was seemingly gauging which would be disabled the fastest. He seemingly opted to try and stop Zola, correctly deducing that Zola's possession of a tome and physical frailty made him threatening yet easy to topple. There was murder in his eyes, and Corrin understood that he would very likely pulverize the jester's head like a grape.

"No!" Yelled Corrin, jumping in Ryoma's path in time to block him using his own enhanced strength and agility. However, the Prince's sheer power made him blocking him difficult, and Yato's wielder had to pour all his might into his tackle. The wood beneath him broke in fact, and he was dragged backward a little, leaving a noticeable trail.

Ryoma snarled and raised his fist, with murder in his eyes. "Out of my way, Kamui!" He ordered, before hitting the young prince right in the cheek, hurling him towards Xander. The blond heir of Nohr easily intercepted his younger brother and prepared to join himself, but alas, the blue-haired young man bought enough time for a sweating Zola to unleash the might of his tome: Mjölnir! Summoning the wrath of lightning, the dark mage used all the power he had available to hit Ryoma with a bolt of electricity, which sent the prince flying through the room and into the garden behind him. Raijinto's wielder, weakened yet alive, got up immediately but was struck by a bolt again. Unnervingly enough, that wasn't enough to put him down, and he got up a third time before being brought down by a third bolt.

"P-phew…" Zola wiped the sweat from his brow. "The royals sure as impressive!"

"Zola! What's the meaning of this?" Yelled Corrin, as Nohrian soldiers rushed in to grab the prince. "Explain yourself, immediately!"

"Oh, my lord, I'm only doing a little trap!" The dwarfish jester bowed a little. "To put it quite simply, we managed to intercept a letter that was supposed to inform you of a meeting between you and the Hoshidans, about a day in advance. So, I concocted a little plot! I gave the Archduke some… well-earned vacation in his prison cell, took his place, and waited for you! It's a pretty daring ploy, I must say, but we've managed to do it stealthily enough." The dark mage chuckled. "If you ask, he's on the last cell, and we gave him some duct tape. He wouldn't stop complaining about missing his relaxing hours…"

Corrin stammered repeatedly, and Zola pointed at his cheek. "You ought to take care of that bruise, milord!"

"Zola." Asked Xander. "What happened to the letter? And are you aware of what you're doing? Those who know Izana will easily notice a difference!"

"Oh, the letter? We sent it right back! I don't know who could've managed to intercept it." He said. "And with all due respect, my acting was perfect!"

"W-what are you going to do with the Hoshidans?"

"I'll give them the death sentence. The lightning that was just heard? That was Lord Ryoma's doing! He tried to use the meeting the assassinate you!" Zola winked. "But you heroically dispatched him and his treacherous siblings, and now, it falls upon me to grimly give the order to put them to death!"

Corrin's eyes widened. Execute them? Execute his siblings, whom he cared for despite everything? Allow the gods to declare their revenge when they discover what happened? And, last of all, not hear his side of the story? Ryoma sure wasn't going to tell him, if he was going to be stuck in a cell, awaiting his execution.

Somehow, the last thought took priority above the others. As always, he quite hated that but couldn't stop it from happening.

Zola walked back into the room and closed the door leading to the garden. "Well, wasn't that a most splendid strategy, milords? In one fell swoop, our greatest enemies are now in our clutch!"

"Zola, that was indeed a most clever strategy… But I cannot agree with the thought of both imprisoning and impersonating the leader of a neutral nation."

"Oh, I do understand Milord! But you know, once we get access to Hoshido, Izumo's trade won't matter anymore!" He said. "And besides, the duke is an odd man. I bet ya that he wouldn't mind things once we release him after the execution!"

"But… but what about the gods?" Asked Corrin,

"Oh, the gods! Probably some tales that old women tell themselves over biscuits! Anyway, milords, I'll be performing the order of execution soon! By the end of the night, Hoshido will have lost quite a lot of its royal blood, and the war will be in our favor! If we play our cards rights, we could even get them to surrender entirely without putting up a fight!"

"W-wait! We can't do this! We can't just do this to an allied nation, Zola! Please, listen to reason and stop this before it gets too late!"

Zola frowned a little but he was aware of his lowly position compared to his interlocutors, and simply assumed an innocuous smile. "Milord Corrin, I understand your hesitation but fear not. Besides, surely you would agree that this is a good way to prevent bloodshed, yes? Oh, I'm aware that a few will need to die, but this is hardly a sacrifice. Why, look at this angry archer! If your life were on his hands, he would, without a doubt, do what I'm about to do! Just relax, enjoy Izumo's sun and food and send a message to King Garon: The execution of the Hoshidan family is at hand, and it shall be carried out for his name!"

Zola snapped his fingers and vanished, and Corrin turned towards Xander. "W-why haven't you done anything to stop him? He's about to kill them! And… and I won't… and I won't allow him to just take Izana's place, what if the gods are real!"

"Calm down, little prince." Said Xander, rather firmly. "This is a problem that we will deal with together. If we gather our family and come to talk to Zola, he will surely hear reason." He, once again, put both hands on his little brother's shoulders. "I apologize for not taking the proper action at the right time, but if I may be honest, I'm as surprised as you are. I never thought that Zola would dare to do something like this… If we aren't quick enough, then the other countries will see that Nohr has no problems with disrespecting neutrality and attacking neutral foreign leaders." He groaned a little, thinking of the backlash. "And given our reputation, it would be best not to confirm it in the eyes of the world."

Corrin understood. "We need to find Azura and Camilla first… Oh, and bring those soldiers to a medic of course!"

"Elise would gladly do so!" Explained Xander. Fortunately enough, they didn't need to search endlessly for their siblings: Right as Xander concluded his phrase, Azura and Camilla entered the room, and the former crossed the room to reach Corrin in time. "Corrin, are you…" Azura put her hand on her mouth, shock visible on her face. "Corrin, your cheek! What happened?"

"It… it doesn't hurt that much." He lied. The lion of Hoshido hit like a battering ram. Azura's gesture of softly caressing his bruise didn't help but he was too polite to tell her. "There's a situation with Izana."

Camilla, unusually serious, put her hands on her hips. "He was missing by the time we reached his room, and I've seen some Nohrian soldiers roaming the halls with their weapons out. What is happening?"

"Zola has gone rogue." Explained Xander. "He has disguised himself as the Archduke, after imprisoning him. On top of the mystical nature of the punishment that may befall us, there will be consequences on a more political scale if we allow this to happen." He continued. "He wishes to trap and execute the Hoshidan royals to gain the upper hand in the war. I understand one's desire to bring the war to an early end, but alas, I cannot just sit by and let Nohr trample on a peaceful nation to achieve its goal. Why herald a new age for Nohr if we act like such?"

"And beside… I can confirm, big brother." Azura briefly stopped to contemplate her words, but then realized that Xander didn't mind. "… I can confirm that Hoshido would not surrender. They would balk at such a tactic in fact, and that would drive them to fight harder and harder. Lives will still be lost, and they may spitefully target Nohrian settlers or citizens afterward." The blue-haired woman gripped her staff. "We need to stop this."

"We will. We need to prevent this from being seen however. We'll go convince Zola to stop his plan, and if all else fails, we'll take him down. If there are retainers present, then we will need to send them off to free Izana. We need to make sure that he knows that Nohr is on his side immediately, lest he decide to take Hoshido's side during the war. As for the siblings, we… will need to free them. They have done no wrong on this land technically, and have been imprisoned on falsehood."

Corrin bit his lips a little but that made sense. He just wished that such a decision wouldn't be regretted later… no, who was he kidding? Of course he'd regret it sooner or later. The young man sighed dejectedly, but imagined that he was doing it for a greater good. He needed to hear the truth out of Ryoma… and, of course, he simply wouldn't let his other siblings die if he could help it. Today, he'd perhaps prove that he's not the Kinslayer that Takumi likes to pretend he is.

"Are our retainers even here?" Asked Corrin. Fate decided to answer his question by having Leo and Elise walk in, both being accompanied by Beruka, Selena, Niles, and Arthur, respectively. The reason for the small crowd became obvious when they looked at the bags they were carrying, which contained regular weapons and, more alarmingly, the handles of both Xander and Corrin's legendary weapons! Leo had his book at his belt though, since it was already way easier to carry than either weapons.

"Sorry we're late!" Elise cheerfully made a little salute. "When we heard the sound of lightning we just grabbed the weapons and went to check it out! Huuhhh, better be safe than sorry right!"

"What's the matter, brother? Have the Hoshidans gone mad?"

While Xander began to repeat the story to his younger brother and sister, Corrin's gaze turned towards his weapon. He wondered what would happen if he tried to show Yato's repaired form to Takumi? The young man seemed to be unaware of its repaired state, which didn't make sense since Saiz would've perhaps reported it. Was the young man just deluding himself?

"Zola… This must be fixed at once. We cannot allow ourselves to be seen as invaders who'd trample over a neutral state to try to win the war. Brother, what is your suggestion?"

"We'll send the retainers to free Izana. If Nohrians soldiers are holding the Archduke hostage, then they'll give up when they understand that their royalty disapproves of the tactic." He pointed. "And we'll head out to dissuade Zola. If worse come to worse, then we'll have to prove ourselves convincing through other means, but I would rather avoid all-out violence. He is also of Nohrian blood, and will surely listen to reasons."

"But still…" Azura looked down on the ground as Elise began to tend to the wounded. "What would drive him to do this? And why would the other soldiers follow him so eagerly?"

Corrin turned to glance at Azura. "He spoke to Garon beforehand, and Garon dismissed his idea." The young man took a few steps forward and began to look at everyone, though seeing that Arthur had been tasked with holding the heaviest bag, he nonchalantly moved to grab Arthur's load using only one hand. The retainer sneaked in a little "thanks sir" and he nodded back. "It's according to him, but he was behind the whole idea of the invisible army at Macarath. He proposed to apply it to the Nohrian army to easily move unnoticed across Hoshido and seize towns or flank our enemies but Father got quite angry. I mean, he said that diviners would figure it out but he also just wanted to have us fight them all-out."

Xander frowned.

"And the worst part is that I had Zola talk to him. If I didn't do it, then maybe he wouldn't have done that." Corrin sighed in remorse. "Maybe he wants to try to end the war early by doing this? But I share Azura's advice that it won't help. We need to quickly get moving to prevent his plan."

"Right." Xander looked at the weaponry. "We'll be able to handle ourselves without our weapons, worry not."

Selena made a frozen smile, since she nearly broke her back to carry all this stuff, but Beruka bowed politely. The royals began to head out and pointed to their retainers, with Corrin going last. "Free Izana quickly while we solve the situation with Zola."

"Will be done, milord." Said Niles, perhaps understanding just how serious the situation was. Selena and Arthur grabbed their respective weapons, but Beruka walked behind Corrin, tapping on his shoulder. He glanced back in time to have the handle of his weapon pointed at his face, though he backed off a little in surprise. His fellow Nohrian remained unmoving as he did so, though she allowed her lips to curve up ever so slightly.

"Your weapon." She said. "Panic not, milord, I am not pointing the part that cut people."

"O-oh right. Well, I'll have to…"

Decline, because I won't need that, for the future battle was one of words and reason? He didn't believe in that, for some reason, and everyone else bar Leo had decided to leave their weapons in the care of the retainers as if they all thought that they wouldn't need them, or that the sight of the legendary items would convince Zola that they were here to kill him or fully anticipated a failure in their diplomatic approach.

There was nothing wrong with carrying a weapon to defend oneself of course, but he felt that taking Yato would be admitting that the violent solution was in his mind, somehow. But of course, this wouldn't happen, right? He knew that things would go the right way. He knew…

… Corrin took the weapon, thanked Beruka, and simply left with the others before they noticed his absence. Beruka observed him, and headed back, picking a weapon of her own. A simple tomahawk would do, but she seized a bigger axe and casually slung it on her belt. Luckily, she was prepared for a conflict in advance, so the belt quite easily held the weapon in place. By contrast, Selena was struggling with sheathing the small sword she picked. Niles merely carried his bow, and Arthur, who was wearing a blue-and-red outfit with a star pattern, resorted to carrying his weapon.

"Why did you give him the sword?" Asked Selena, after swearing quietly a few times. "He looked sad while picking it up for some reason."

"My goal was not to make him "sad". Zola is unstable and I thought it would be wise to give him something that he'd need to use just in case."

"Can't he transform part of his body into a dragon? I don't think he'd need the sword to defend himself." Beruka glanced at Selena and reminded herself that he was indeed capable of that. How could she forget such a thing? It should be burned into her brain, by all accounts.

"… Yes. It slipped from my mind."

"Huh-huh, and speaking of that. Why are we picking up those weapons?"

"Why are you picking up those weapons?" Teased Niles. Selena stammered a little. "Better be safe. Zola's lackeys agree with him to an extent, or they're controlled to serve him, or they're just dumb. Either way, it'd be prudent to get things to defend ourselves with."

"But fear not! I am quite certain that our Nohrian friend will discover the vileness of the act that they are performing!" The group began to walk down the halls. "After all, we are all in this together, aren't we?"

"I'm not fearing the Nohrians soldiers." Explained Beruka. "I've seen one of the royals' retainers near the palace. If they get wind of what is happening, and they will because of that ruckus, then they'll go down the cells to free their lieges. And they're not going to hesitate on killing Nohrians. For all we know, we'll be heading down to kill the captured royals."

"Lady Beruka is right." Explained Kaze, leaping out of nowhere to land in the middle of the ground. Selena nearly took his head off with a strike, but her blade stopped inches away from his serene face, and he didn't deem it wise to notice that. Like how he didn't deem it wise to notice that Niles was close to shooting him with an arrow. Arthur, surprisingly, seemed unsurprised by Kaze's arrival, and Beruka was similarly unaffected. She knew he was coming after all.

Selena grimaced and lowered her sword. "Yeah, really smart move dropping in like a ninja when we're on the lookout for them!" Niles chuckled a little.

"I'm going to make a pincushion out of you someday, ninja."

"I've scouted the area in advance and know where the cells are. Two armored soldiers are guarding them. They appear to have the key for both Lord Izana's cell and the Royal Family's. I could steal the key, or simply lockpick, but I feared that doing so would cause panic amongst the soldiers, and would prompt them to attempt to execute the royals. I've deemed it wise to come fetch you. After all, they'll trust you." He pointed away. "Some soldiers are in the way. There are few of them, certainly not enough to slow us down if talks somehow failed."

Beruka, once she was sure that Kaze was done, proceeded onwards. "Thank you Kaze. This will be easy;"

"Yeah but wait!" Selena walked close to Beruka while Kaze joined the merry troop. Halfway through, she turned around to walk backward, while still staring at Beruka. "How are we going to convince them? Hey, I know you have orders, but you need to release the super pissed off royals from the enemy side, please thank you!"

"Yes." Said Beruka. "We are their superiors. And we will give them good reasons to do so."

She raised her head and held out her hand before entering the next room. A sliding door alone stood between them and the wide hall that leads to the cells, and from that door, they could see a few shadows, and a few sounds as well. Silhouettes moved around, violently throwing themselves around and making enough ruckus to be heard

"… I do not think that the Nohrians are a problem anymore. Let's go."

Beruka opened the door, and immediately saw about five Hoshidans in the halls, standing over the unconscious bodies of their fellows. On the left, there was a small girl with a pink outfit, a white headband, decently long brown hair, and a stolen sword of Nohrian design. A bit to the right, that dark blue-haired spearwoman from earlier was present. She remembered her from the port, but she had been simply pushed aside, and wasn't worth the memory for Beruka. Next to her there was a muscular katana-wielding samurai, with a scar and a rather youthful look. Finally, the little group was completed by the two ninjas. The red-haired man, Saizo, was already a greater menace on his own

The assassin clenched her fist when she saw her rival, and the woman frowned as well when her cold eye settled upon the assassin. Sensing that a fight was about to occur, Kaze fancied himself as a diplomat.

"Wait! We will not need to fight!" He said. "We stand against the foe that brought-"

Saizo walked in front of the others as well, and they readied themselves for battle. "Enough! Kaze, my brother, do you truly intend to convince us that those thugs meant well when they hold weapons and wicked smiles?"

"Brother, those are neutral grounds. We cannot allow blood to spill on the land of the gods!" Pleaded Kaze. "Behold! You've only knocked out these men, since you are aware of the taboo against violence present here!"

"We knocked out those guys 'coz they're no threats! But you?" The brown-haired man behind Saizo pointed the tip of his sword. "Biigg trouble! And besides, the gods won't care if it's Nohrian blood that stains the floor, hell, seeing as one of you did this, maybe they'll approve of this, right?!"

"We're not letting you get past us! Not when you mean to slay our lieges!" The spear warrior next to him had a face twisted with fury, and gripped her weapon with such intensity that the wood on it cracked a little. Out of all the others, she was the most eager to go toe-to-toe with Nohr.

Kaze sighed but whereas Saizo grabbed his two weapons, the green-haired man refused to even consider keeping some. "So be it, brother, but I will not kill you… I've always managed to sneak past you in training too, haven't I?"

With speed too great for more than half the room to keep track of, the ninjas vanished in a blur, though they quickly reappeared, revealing that Saizo managed to intercept his younger brother and kicked him across a wooden wall on top of that!

"At training." He repeated, before leaping in, and the retainers jumped into battle as well.

The small girl attacked Niles immediately with multiple swings of her sword, but he easily dodged them, moving to the right or left or ducking when he needed to. Already irritated, she swung at his feet but he jumped back and made a stylish landing on his hands to make another acrobatic jump, concluding his little acrobatic sequence by landing with his arms spread wide.

"Rah! Stop moving already!" Bemoaned the girl, before resuming her offensive. Behind her, Arthur engaged the enraged woman in an intense battle, finding himself in front of a ruthless enemy with great talents when it came to her weapon of choice, skillfully spinning her weapons in her hands and performing dozens of stabs at a quick pace. The Nohrian hero summoned all the skill he could muster to fend her off, but he was being dangerously pushed backward, though he kept on smiling regardless of the odds that were placed in front of him.

Selena was faring much better in comparison. When the young man came right at her using his katana, she simply sidestepped out of the path of the blade and casually leaned out of the way of the following attacks. It was similar to Niles's current bout with the girl, but she managed to make Niles look like he was struggling for his life in comparison. She even kept at least one arm behind her back, glancing coldly upon the young Hoshidan whenever he missed, and he missed often. Half the time, she didn't even bother to look at him, glancing beyond his shoulder to look at the bigger duel.

Both Kagero and Beruka had their weapons out and, unlike the others, had yet to begin to fight. Instead, the ninja slowly raised her daggers and casually threw him aside, clenching her fists and glaring straight at her foe. This was an obvious invitation to fight fairly, and one that she could easily refuse. While Kagero was skilled, Beruka could more than keep up with her, and if her weapons ever managed to connect, then she would easily mutilate the ninja enough to earn a comfortable victory.

It would be easy.

So Beruka tossed her weapons away and her hands rose as she took a stance. Unnervingly enough, given their stoic natures, both women grinned before launching into battle. Kagero, however, cut things short by trying to jab Beruka in the forehead. The blue-haired woman caught her hand rather swiftly and made a swipe at Kagero's left cheek, temporarily stunning her. Beruka struck at her left side but she seemingly barely missed the ninja's pouch, and paid for her failure when the shinobi kneed her in the stomach. Beruka supported the pain and held her ground, refusing to bend forward and expose herself to another attack by doing such.

The Hoshidan smiled a little, perhaps impressed by her pain resistance, and prepared to strike again. Beruka was more than ready to intercept her attack but their fight was interrupted when Selena cut in, swinging her sword down at the Kunoichi. Kagero swiftly performed a dodge and took a few leaps backward. She glared slightly at Selena and turned her eye to the brown-haired young man, who had gotten his weapon stolen by the red-haired retainer.

Speaking of him, while he had seemingly been knocked away during the fight, he was now running towards Selena, unfazed at the prospect of facing the now dual-wielding retainer who took his weapon in the first place and her murderous ally. "Gimme that back! It's a gift!"

"Don't worry Ber!" Said Selena, ignoring the furious Hoshidan. When he leaped at her, she simply sidestepped away and held her foot out a little, tripping him up and sending him soaring through the air, through the nearby window and into the garden. "I'm going to help this time. She's not going to beat us both."

"No!" Answered Beruka. She almost brought up her desire to finish her fight by herself before her mind reeled her in, and Beruka lowered her voice significantly. "… We must end this fight early. Lord Izana will grow angrier if we treat his castle as a battleground. Go forth and get him out, I'll handle-"

Kagero didn't wait for them to finish though, and made a bold attack. A suicidal strategy, considering her numerical inferiority, but she coordinated her assault with that violent spear-wielding woman, who had managed to push Arthur away with a kick before violently attacking Selena. She wasn't quite as fast as her, but her rage bolstered her strength and her weapon was deadly, thus putting Selena on the defensive despite her two swords. Beruka was attacked with a kick but she managed to grab unto the woman's leg with her left hand before hurling her into the hole that the brown-haired retainer made during his reckless charge at Selena. The gods even saw fit to have her crash into him right as he was ready to get back into the fight, sending them both tumbling into the ground.

"Beruka! Go!"

The assassin looked at Selena, locked in battle with the woman, but decided to head backward near Niles, who was still easily dodging his enemy's agile slashes. She was as swift as the wind itself, but that didn't mean anything to Beruka when she had the advantage of surprise, as demonstrated by just how easily the assassin sent her flying with a punch, sailing well past Niles.

"I was having fun." He complained, with a little smug smirk. She had the pleasure of ending said smug smirk by grabbing the golden little chain he had on his cloak to drag him along, though he broke free from her left hand. They managed to run past Selena and her foe, but while she kept the "time-traveler" busy, the opposite was also true and Selena put up enough of a fight to prevent her from intercepting them.

"You'll pick the cell open. We won't have enough time to get those two idiots to fetch their key!" She said.

"Can't we fetch our little green-haired man for that?"

Kaze burst through the wall in front of them, battered and on the verge of unconsciousness. He glanced at his two Nohrian allies briefly, held his hand out, and finally passed out. Very shortly afterward, his older brother stepped out of the room, coldly looking down upon his defeated foe. Behind them, the excited young girl was running back in, with a nasty bruise on her jaw and metaphorical flames in her eyes. This complicated the situation rather badly for the duo.

"I'll gouge out your remaining eye, Nohrian." Threatened Saizo.

"Sorry, tough guy, I need that one to shoot." He shot back, in a vain attempt at bantering. The elite shinobi wisely refused to play on Niles's field and took a heavy step forward. He wasn't as badly wounded at Kaze, but the slowness in his movements convinced Beruka that he may have been struck or at least poisoned. This would give them a chance to break through if they both pushed at once, or if she quickly executed her gambit. Behind her though, Arthur, who had previously been dispatched, leaped in the smaller girl's path, or rather, he wanted to but slipped on the floor. By sheer luck, the angry little retainer tripped up on the heroic Nohrian and fell face-first on the floor, letting out a roar of frustration but being temporarily disabled.

Seeing this, Beruka raised her fist and threw something at Saizo. The projectile sailed through the air at high speed, and her strike had been quick, but it landed on the palm of the ninja's armored hand all the same, with such ease that the stoic ninja glared at her in disgust. Whatever he had to say though, the sudden smoke that escaped from his fist ensured that it wouldn't be heard by either retainers. Since he wouldn't be caught off guard long enough for Niles to ready his arrow and let loose, it fell up to him and Beruka to floor Saizo with a sudden charge, causing him to roll over backward. He was quickly back up on his feet, now determined to live up to the threat on Niles, but the smoke prevented him from knowing where exactly they were and bought the duo some precious seconds to run down the halls. If they managed to reach the cells in time, they could always try to overwhelm the remaining retainers with their numbers advantage.

As fate would have it though, they wasted too much time on Saizo, and both Kagero and that annoying woman swung back into the action, leaping back into the fight in front of the two retainers. Eager to make up for his lacking performance so far, he swung a rage-filled fist at Niles and missed again. The outlaw even jumped over his head, putting his hands on the angered Hoshidan's head as if they were playing some game. The young man stumbled forward and had to correct his footing before he resumed the chase, though a generous distance still separated him and the white-haired man.

Beruka didn't fare as well in her attempt. Like Niles, she tried to move past her enemy instead of fighting her head-on, but this proved to be a lacking decision against one bestowed with the reflexes of Hoshido's elite. Kagero lured Beruka into thinking that she had succeeded and then grabbed her by the collar before pulling back, breaking her footing entirely and successfully making the dreaded assassin of Nohr land on her back rather painfully. Now in an advantageous position, the kunoichi clenched her fist in preparation for a punch, but noticed her ally's rather comical failure. She punched down with enough speed to force Beruka to block instead of dodging, stunning the assassin and causing her to stay on the ground for a little while longer.

Commandingly, she pointed down at Beruka while catching up with her colleague. "Hinata! Get rid of her, I'll take care of the outlaw!" Understanding her order, he quickly ran back to the assassin, who stayed in her position, as if already on death's door. This caused him to make a rather overconfident mistake by leaping on the air, seemingly attempting to drive his foot into her stomach. Beruka waited until the last moment and flipped backward, narrowly dodging the diving kick, and drew her legs back before kicking forward with a devastating double-kick, hitting the defenseless young man right in the stomach and sending him flying. This time, upon hitting the wall, he slumped over, groaning in humiliation before passing out.

Beruka then used another acrobatic move to get back unto her feet, and dared to smile a little. However, the circumstances caught up to her: She couldn't see what was going on behind the cloud of smoke, but she was rather unconcerned at that with the moment, since Saizo had regained his bearings and was running right at her with murder in his two eyes. Instead of fighting him, Camilla's retainer ran into Izumo's dreaded prison system: A large bunch of empty, yet quite comfortable cells, largely unoccupied for the most part. A bunch of defeated soldiers were laid near the cells, with the recipient of their defeat, Kagero, hot on the trails of Niles.

The archer was heading for a lit cell at the very end of the wooden hall, which contained the Archduke. Close to the cell, some genius had decided to gather the entire Hoshidan royal family, and only two armored men stood to protect them. Being too slow to reach Kagero in time, they defaulted to guarding their spots. Beruka sighed and got to the chase, while also being chased by Saizo. The two guards stoically looked upon the chain of pursuers, their intimidating helmets concealed their emotions rather well.

"Weird things are happening, Otto."

"You've got that right, Oskar."

Two projectiles whisked in her eyes, and Beruka felt a sudden sharp pain on her right cheek as the blades of the shuriken that he threw tore into her flesh, giving her a rather nasty gash on it. She immediately felt the poison's effect grip her body, but her resistance to it ensured that her movements would not be handicapped, though it did little to ease the pain.

Niles was about to reach the Archduke, who watched it all in interest, but Kagero seemingly thought that the Nohrian was going to try to kill the holy man because she pulled out a Mokushujin knife, its sharp edge glistening nastily upon being exposed to the light of a nearby torch. Niles smiled, obviously worried about getting hit by that. Beruka ensured that this wouldn't happen (for this battle, at the very least), when she made a last-ditch leap, reaching Kagero in time. One hand grasped her long black hair, and the other firmly grabbed her arm tightly enough to leave red marks over her skin. This probably wouldn't hurt Kagero, but it stopped her almost in mid-air, like what she used to stop Beruka just a minute ago.

The assassin, not content with simply dropping her to the ground, used her own considerable strength to pull back and slam the kunoichi right into the ground, ensuring that she wouldn't be getting up for the next several seconds. This meant that Saizo, who was about to reach Beruka, was now the only Hoshidan left in a position where he could stop Niles from freeing the Archduke. Unluckily enough, he was as strong as Kagero, and the effects of the poison were already weakening the Nohrian. She had only one shot at slowing him down, and then, she'd be too slowed down to catch up to the two shinobis.

Niles began to work on the lock while Izana looked on, fascinated by the brawl. Saizo moved to grasp his shurikens but decided not to accidentally attack the Archduke. He opted to accomplish his deed with his bare hands instead, and jumped over to a wall to try to avoid Beruka.

Gathering what remained of her strength, Beruka prepared herself to jump, aware that regardless of her success, she would end up weakened while in the presence of two very angry Hoshidans, who could very well try to kill her before the Archduke could deliver his order. This didn't slow her down one bit: The assassin jumped and, using her good aim, got right into Saizo's path, impacting him in the ribs and knocking him out of the air. Once more, her scar flared up, and the rest of her body followed suit when she harshly landed upon the ground, but alas, she had managed to fend Saizo away from Niles. The redhaired ninja had been thrown away, and his ending was barely any more graceful than Beruka's.

Being repeatedly denied his target clearly took its toll on the ninja, and his eyes widened in rage. His weakened enemy made a small daring smirk, despite the throbbing pain in her head, and despite Saizo and Kagero both rising together, with murder in their eyes.

"It's a shame." Hissed Kagero. "One would be more hesitant to throw herself into battle that much after nearly dying. What compels you, Nohrian?" Despite her anger, there was some legitimate curiosity in her voice.

"… Because I want to settle the score."

"Then I shall grant you your wish."

Kagero moved, in a little wobbly manner owing to her recent impact unto the ground, but before anything could come out of it, the door of the cell swung open, and Izana immediately escaped, holding his hand out. Niles sneakily moved behind him to shield himself from some spiteful last attack. Using his other hand, Izana tore some duct tape away from his mouth in a virile manner, but somewhat underestimated the pain he'd feel as a result, perhaps explaining his subsequent order-screech;

"SSSTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!" He yelled, gathering all his power into a fierce roar. This immediately brought the fighting nearby to an end, and Beruka was convinced that it would also end the fighting that was still going on in the halls, if Selena hadn't already subdued the two harpies left behind.

"Sorry to disturb this little match, it was fun to see!" Izana was as chipper as the rumors said, but his tone made it clear that it was more of an act this time. "But it's so unsightly to do it in the halls of this beautiful country! Come on now, you have the whole continent to brawl on! At Izumo, you get a hangover, not a contusion, sillies!"

"Milord Izana! We apologize for this most unsightly battle within your halls." Saizo got unto his knee rather quickly. "But a most treacherous attacks had been carried out on your noble domain by Nohrians. A Nohrian wizard has taken your identity and trapped you in this cell-"

"Oh, don't worry, I'm quite aware of that part, my dear shinobi!" Izana looked relatively unhurt despite his complaints, though he was brushing his hair intently. "Quick, has the fiend harmed my miraculous hair by any chance?"

Saizo stopped, perhaps wondering if he should address this or not. "N-no, milord. Regardless, a ploy has been used to trick the royal family into coming here, so that they could be captured and executed!"

"Zola has done that but he's gone rogue!" Beruka stepped closer to Izana, who turned to listen to her. The scarred ninja prepared to respond but the Archduke raised one finger to tell him to stand down. "We have been sent to free you and get the traitor to step down from your throne. As of now, the entire royal family has been sent to discuss the issue and get him to stand down."

"Hmmm, yes. I was freed by this roguishly handsome man!" Izana complimented. Niles smiled. "But why were you trying to stop him, then?"

"We thought that the fiends were heading out to kill you, milord, and aimed to defend you."

"I see! I see! Well, alright then, lots of cleanup to do!" Izana began to walk towards the stairs and motioned for everyone to follow him. "We're going to resolve this altogether! Hey!" He snapped his fingers at the two soldiers. "Release those poor little royals immediately or I'm going to ask my god friends to, hm, curse the pants off you!"

"We should listen, Otto."

"You've got that right, Oskar."

The two soldiers stepped away from the stunned Hoshidan, and their retainers moved to pick the doors open.

"Well, I do hope that they will subdue this man without violence! And I do hope that nothing has been done to my beautiful halls during this fight!"

"Y-yes, on that matter…"

…

Corrin and the royal family reached Zola's room just in time. A few Izumian guards were "defending" it, and upon noticing the royals, they sprung in alarm and held their spears out. It wouldn't be hard to send them flying, but the young man merely raised his hand. "We come in peace. We would have words to talk with the Archduke."

"T-the Archduke has requested not to be… disturbed. He needs to schedule the exec… the…"

The Izumian soldier prepared to keep going, but stopped halfway through and lowered her weapon, only nodding knowingly. Her colleagues also carried out the gesture, and it became apparent to Corrin that they knew that their beloved Archduke had either had a sudden change for the worst or had been replaced. Regardless, they trusted Corrin and the royals to fix the situation. Expecting Nohrians to fix a situation would be seen as a foolish gesture in other countries, but Corrin intended to prove the guards right here and now by seeing Zola.

"If you don't mind…" Corrin turned around. "May I… may I try and converse with Zola alone?"

Leo sighed heavily. "Corrin…"

"I-I know that it seems foolish, but I've dragged him down this path when I sent him to meet King Garon, please! Let me try to fix this! I-I know we agreed to do it together but… But I want to try to defuse the situation, and show that I can do things by myself!"

Xander glanced and slowly nodded. "Very well…" His hand rose to prevent protestations. "We will intervene if we deem it necessary, though."

"Corrin, are you sure that you want to do that?" Azura seemed hesitant. "If he turns out dangerous…"

"If he turns out dangerous, I'll survive until you get there, don't worry." He assured.

"Aww, my poor prince is becoming a man! I'm proud!"

"Huuhh, get him, big bro! With words and stuff!"

Corrin smiled, turned around, and entered the room, with some confused Izumian being left behind.

The Archduke's interiors were surprisingly small for a man of his status, but there was a small black door on the left that perhaps led to a wider room. Otherwise, it was both an office and seemingly a room: Behind the intricate wooden desk where a disguised Zola was present, one could see an ornate bed. Various amounts of closets were scattered over the office, holding scrolls perhaps full of ancient lore or ways to talk with the gods (if the man was as they said though, it was also likely that they contained recipes for incredible cakes or some manner of keeping one's hair impeccable).

The sun was peering through the window, illuminating the room's green carpet. The red walls had a lot of portraits of the older leaders of Izumo, and, unusually, some shelves with prizes on them. Mostly elaborate pottery, along with some congratulations on winning the competition for "best haircut". More and more, Corrin realized that Zola had not been lying when he said that he copied the Archduke well. The man was as eccentric as the rumors said.

"Zola." Said Corrin, trying to stay unfazed by the quirkiness of their meeting place. Zola, who had seemingly not noticed them (or pretended not to) looked up from his documents and smiled, before getting up from his chair. "Milord!" He used some weak tomeless magic to close the doors and dropped his form, eagerly walking next to his desk. "I don't suppose that you're here to congratulate me on a well-planned strategy."

"No." Said Corrin, stepping forth. "Zola, we're here to ask you to stop this right now." Zola raised an eyebrow, and the prince realized that perhaps he shouldn't have gotten to the point so quickly

"Why should I, milord? Yes, I am taking the form of the Archduke, but it's not like Nohr had problems with stomping on weaker countries when it needs to!"

"Yes, but we will ensure that this will be a thing of the past." Corrin eyed Zola, seeing if the small man was holding his tome. "My family and I mean to announce the arrival of a new era for the country. As a result, we just cannot sit aside and let you attack and imitate the leader of a neutral country."

Zola laughed a little bitterly. "A new age for Nohr? Milord! You are more naïve than I thought! You may have the power to change Nohr, but trust me, the whole hierarchy at the top." He raised his finger and pointed it upwards. "Is more than little screwed up! Lord Corrin, do you remember what happened when you took me to see Lord Garon?"

"Zola, I'm sorry about that-"

"Don't be! It opened my eyes to the reality of the situation! When the King ranted about not hiding from the enemy and seeing great clashes in the plains, I realized that he was… well, he's not exactly the savior of Nohr he once was!"

"… On that aspect, you are right. But this is why Xander will ascend to the throne afterward." Corrin held his hand up a little. "The tragedies encountered by Father have clouded his mind, and this is why he'll offer Xander the crown once this war ends."

"King Garon will pass the crown? I find that hard to believe!" He shook his head. "When Iago took the credit for what me… I and the other mages did, when Garon furiously refused my offer, when… when I had to grow up in the slums!" Zola pointed. "Have you ever seen what's down in there?" Corrin prepared to answer but was cut off. "It's hell!"

Zola took a few steps away from his desk, and his smug expression collapsed into something akin to hysteria as he began to shake his arms. "Milord Corrin, have you ever asked the other soldiers about how it feels to grow up in the slums? To have to quickly grow desensitized to killing, lest you die yourself? I have waded my way through trash-filled alleys and I've witnessed the deaths of countless other Nohrians, all so that I could live! And… and do you know what happened when I got noticed by a mage in the court? When I got to escape from the slums? W-well, guess what?! There's no sun! The plants are dying! The bandits roam the land! The whole country is eaten away by despair and a blight!"

Corrin listened to him. He dared not to speak, in case he'd be interrupted. Zola was eager to use the pause to rant some more. "Nohr is… a cursed country! And the worst of the worst is leading it! The nobles, who lord over us and look down upon the slums from their obsidian towers, those are the ones who keep things are they are!"

He turned around to glance at the sun, as if entranced. Corrin could've used the opportunity to quickly neutralize him, but he didn't. He needed to hear everything from Zola. The prince wanted to know exactly what the inhabitants of the country of the dusk felt like, even the ones he disagreed with.

"Say, things are true, the gods are real and smite me and the rest of Nohr for what I've done! So what? What else could they take away at this point? Our country's dead!" He spread his arms.

"… Is this what motivated you to take Izana's place?"

Zola glared a little after taking his eyes off from the sun. "Yes… Well, I intended to do it more subtly, but when we saw that oaf." He jammed his thumb at a cruddy drawing on a wall. "I… It's so unfair. Why do so many of us are born in those slums, in that… husk of a country, while the likes of him are free to enjoy warmth and food? All of us who survived the slums deserve to live in those conditions, and we deserve to live in Hoshido, but I know that the nobles will not let us have that." The jester almost spat. "We're going to die in droves fighting samurais, just so that the nobles will be able to build some ugly manors for themselves in the plains."

"So, you hoped to put an early end to the war by capturing the royals, so that there'd be less death? Hoshido would surrender because of this heavy loss, and Nohr would be free to take over with a much lesser death toll." Zola only nodded. Corrin slowly began to pace around the room while keeping his eye on him. "I understand. I… I can sympathize with you." He glanced at the door at the end of the room. "King Garon's soul has rotten away, and he has surrounded himself with sycophantic scum." This bluntness from Corrin seemed surprising to Zola, and he began to pay more attention. "But we cannot keep the Hoshidans in those cages."

"And why not? They're powerful enemies."

"Yes. But Hoshido will strive to get them back at any costs, and the truth will not be hidden for long." Pointed out, Corrin. "The other countries will distrust Nohr if they see that they are willing to topple allied nations to gain the advantage in a war."

"Since when does Nohr cares about what other countries think of it?"

"Since the other countries are helping us with the war effort." Corrin wished he could've rehashed for this. "And… for the future, we will need to drop that attitude. We will need to form durable bonds with our neighbors and we can't do that if we show our willingness to trample their leaders. Furthermore, Hoshidans are tenacious. Even if you succeed, they will not surrender. And in fact, the trickery may enrage them and convince them to fight on even harder." Zola began to contemplate further. "From their perspective, Nohr is aiming to kill them all. They will not surrender, because, from their point of view, they're fighting for everything they stand for."

"That's… true." Zola looked away. "But this will be a severe blow against them nonetheless."

"You're right, but assuming that the gods get involved, we may end up suffering from some setback ourselves." Argued Corrin. "The nobles may suffer, but countless of us will also do the same." He didn't have much business using the word "us". While being kidnapped was, without a doubt, more traumatic, the prince was slowly realizing that his childhood had been a pretty happy one compared to the people he knew, and his noble blood separated him from the average Nohrian man or woman. Luckily, Zola failed to realize that.

"… Why don't you fight King Garon and his allies, then? You seem to dislike him as much as we do."

"You're correct, my friend, but it wouldn't be wise to just fight them while we're already in the middle of a war." He approached Zola and put his hand on his shoulder. "Look. For now, we will need to fight for Garon. But my siblings and I have planned to ignore his orders and spare the Hoshidans civilians. We will take a stand against his cruelties." The small man looked nervously at his hand, so Corrin eased his grip. "I get what you mean, and we'll work on it. Once this is done, I can assure you that we'll work on cleaning up Nohr. The slums will vanish, the fiendish nobles will be kicked out, and we'll undo the damage done by Garon. But first, we'll need you to drop the disguise and free Izana. If done, perhaps that will allow him to calm the gods? It may help countless Nohrians."

Zola only chuckled slightly but then looked down. "You're naïve if you think that I did all of this for the sake of the others, but… You're right. This was a foolish plot. And I guess I knew that since I surrendered so easily." The jester's smile faded slowly. "I haven't done much to help the cause."

"You did, though. Thanks to you, I have a clearer idea of what the average Nohrian feels." Corrin and Zola began to walk away. "It helps me figure out what the average Nohrian feel like. And I know that after the war, I'm going to work on fixing all those problems that led you to this."

"I see…"

"… Tell me, Zola, how did you manage to hide the truth from the Izumians? Surely they would've realized something, right?"

"I think they knew. Heh, some of my colleagues helped with hiding it. I think most of them agreed with me. Well, I like to think so."

Corrin thought of that reveal. It would seemingly take a while to make Nohr trust its leaders as it did once more. As of now, fear seemed to be what was keeping all those men and women in line.

Both Nohrians walked out of the room, and the Izumians jumped backward in fright. Leo, who stood at the center, raised his hand and then lowered it. "This isn't an illusion."

"Zola, I see that you've chosen to surrender!" Xander spoke up. "You've made a wise choice. I'm glad that the situation was solved without the need for further bloodshed. And congratulations to you, Corrin! I was right to let you handle the situation!"

Corrin beamed with pride. "T-thanks, now, I guess we'll need to wait for the real Izana to show-"

Before the prince could finish, a loud yell interrupted his sentence as the actual leader of Izumo barged into the room. Upon sighting him, the guards dropped their weapons to yell similarly, and the tension still lingering in the atmosphere vaporized faster than a cube of ice dropped into magma. Only Elise was unaffected, cheerfully joining in while the other royals cringed and covered their eardrums. Amusingly, the retainers and royal family from Hoshido were in similar troubles, though this time, Ryoma seemingly wasn't affected much. Perhaps because of his tolerance to pain, or his eardrums were used to sound, after he spent so many years of his life dropping a thunderbolt on bandits or Facelesses.

The retainers from Nohr walked back to the side of their leaders, having been healed from their wounds halfway through the trip.

"Helllooooooo there! Whoah! I sure missed a lot of things! Hey, good job solving the situation peacefully you guys! High-five!" He said, smacking his hand into Corrin's. He spun at a 180 degrees angle, for no reason, and turned towards a bemused Zola. "Ah! You little fiend! I'm a bit upset at you, you know! That cell wasn't comfortable at all! Nono!"

"Milord." Said Ryoma, unfazed by the weirdness. "Will you allow us to handle this Nohrian, and those who participated in his schemes?"

"With all due respect, Prince Ryoma, Zola shall earn the judgment of Nohrian justice. His slights against you are immense, of course, but you may attempt to earn some information out of them. I promise that we will punish him fairly."

"Ah! Or perhaps you will let him go!"

"Hey now, hey now! We've all had our fair share of drama!" The guards walked around Zola, who was hiding behind Corrin. "Look, the boring justice stuff will happen later! Let me tell you what, to make up for that, we're going to go sunbathing! It's the best way to recover from nearly being executed, I'll tell you that! If you want, let's all wait for the dinner tonight to let loose! It'd be entertaining!"

Ryoma and Xander shook their heads, too tired by the recent events to bother dealing with his eccentricities. As the guards dragged Zola away, he turned towards Corrin. "Good luck, Lord Corrin!" He said. "And, see, I did a good job imitating him!"

Corrin waved away sneakily at the departing Zola, and glanced to his left. Takumi was staring at him, eyeing Shadow Yato's hilt with a look of both confusion and horror. The thought of pulling out the legendary weapon and seeing how Takumi would react crossed the prince's mind, but before he could do so, the Hoshidan family turned around to leave the room.

"Wait, Ryoma!" He said. The red prince turned around to glance at him, but shook his head slightly and left. Somehow, a good part of Corrin's happiness went away with the Prince's gesture, like having a door close right into his face. Yato's wielder felt like chasing Ryoma, to try to get the answers out of him directly, but Izana, perhaps sensing this, calmly put his hand on his back, while eyeing the Nohrians.

"You may regain your quarters, friends! Don't worry, I'm not going to get all cold on you since you dealt with the problems! However, I guess you wouldn't refuse if I asked to monopolize Corrin's time for a little bit? Important seer business! Confidential and all!"

Corrin gritted his teeth a little. Another waste of time. He briefly thought, before he realized just what he was thinking.

"Alright Lord Izana! But treat my dear well, he's going to need that vacation day after all! Especially after it was so rudely interrupted!"

"Ahh, don't worry! It's a matter of minutes!"

Beruka eyed him from afar, and Corrin nodded at her. The Nohrians left the room, and the white-haired man turned towards his younger interlocutor. "Alright Corrin! Say, whaddya think of meeting the gods?" The youth's paranoia flared a little and he subconsciously moved his body, just in case Izana decided to stab him with a dagger. Seeing this, the seer laughed a little. "Oh, right, bad choice of words! Anyway, I've got things to tell you! Don't worry, it's only half… very duper important, you in?"

"Y… Yes?" He said. He already felt a lot more tired, for sure.

…

A/N: Zola resolved in one chapter, heh? Well, I don't want to really slow the pace down too much. However, the group still has some chapters to spend in Izumo, so don't worry, we're gonna see Takumi fully grasp the Yato, and lose his mind doing so!

Another brawl so soon! I actually sort of like making fight scenes. Besides, it builds up their rivalry, and we know that it will eventually culminate. Oboro would seem like the better rival but she doesn't know that Beruka is Goulet's daughter, and Beruka wouldn't really see her as a worthy enemy even with that information.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Wash your hands, leave reviews (I love 'em!), and I'll be seeing you for another chapter!

See ya soon!


	25. The future and the past

It was odd to observe the halls of Izumo and see the guards still laying about in the gardens. Corrin could see some servants hurriedly running towards another part of the castle with their hands full of paints, wooden and other materials, but it was hard to imagine that a tense situation had just been resolved a few minutes earlier at most. Back in his childhood, when Gunter taught him about the different countries of Dreiz, he remembers that the old knight derisively referenced Izumo as the "careless country". And while he'd perhaps use a different moniker, one that would be more polite, he couldn't disagree with his old guardian there.

Izana, while he had asked Corrin to accompany him, had asked to briefly check out "something" in his office before doing so, so the young man had some time to study his surroundings. He thought of Zola and his words. While he had promised to get rid of the corruption, he wondered just how they'd do that. Having to perform such a massive shake-up of their structure while dealing with the issues with Hoshido would be very costly, and it'd be a headache even for the likes of Xander or Leo. Keeping the peace while removing those people could be just as difficult as defeating the Hoshidans.

It irritated him, somewhere. And because of that, the voice was whispering at the back of his skull. He was a dragon prince, wasn't he? Why did he accept to constantly bear the burdens of those people? Why would he put himself through even more troubles? Why not just transform into a dragon, line up those power-hungry morons and selfish debris and bite their heads off? No, no. Due process is needed for all, and he wouldn't be different from the executioners that he despised if he resorted to violence. Besides, the mindless use of violence to enforce one's position was too similar to what Garon would do, and he wanted nothing to do with the old man.

"Ahh, sorry, I had to make sure that he didn't screw up some files or something! Complicated stuff!" Izana's sudden interruption caused the prince to nearly jump through the roof and into space, but he restrained himself to jumping up a few centimeters, wheeling around with his hand on his heart. "Oh, dear, I'm sorry! I shouldn't be so sneaky when addressing people! Are you okay?"

"Y-yes. Just dealing with… political matters, and all."

"Ah! That's the boring stuff! There's more to enjoy in Izumo, but first, I need you to meet the gods! Come here!"

Corrin entered the door and Izana closed it before following suit. "I know, I know, it sounds weird to say! But it's 100% benevolent. The gods are pretty nice, you know? Once you get past the tendency to shout, the arrogance, and the odd fixation for transforming people into animals or objects, they're great to hang out with! Ya know, they've been partying before we were even born and all!"

"A-are you okay, Milord? You've just been pulled out of your cell. If you wish to rest…"

"Hm? Ah, I've got myself some stamina! And our cells are comfy! Honestly, I just took a little nap while waiting for my rescue. I'm not tired at all! And besides, even if I were barely dragging myself forward, the gods would still want this meeting to happen, so there's not much to say with this!"

Izana stepped in front of the black door and waved his hand. All of a sudden, it vanished entirely, and in its place stood the entrance for a darkened tunnel. Corrin tried not to look overly wary and stepped in, though he was now fully expecting for Izana to cackle and close the gate behind him before flooding the tunnel with magma, or those invisible zombies, or those invisible zombies riding horses? The Archduke, however, entered very soon after the young man and used the same hand movement to close the door. Perhaps this was a magic born from his blood? He'd have to ask Nyx if he eventually got the time.

"So, those gods, what do they do?" Upon walking in further, a few torches lit up.

"Well, they tend to be detached from mortal affairs but that doesn't mean that you won't see them hanging around here! Unlike what the rumors say, they don't help with the land. They do protect my bloodline from attackers, and they can do services if asked, but they like getting us mortals to do stupid mortal things. Like bashing each other in the face to make a point, or making a spicy sauce. Seriously, don't you need a weird taste if you can only enjoy things when they burn your tongue?"

"A-agreed… So, the gods can perform wishes?"

"They predict the future if asked, or do a small-scale miracle if in a good mood. But nothing that can't ultimately be done by human hands of course! For instance, they won't lead your country into war, because it's a human thing! Or they won't heal your country's land, because a bunch of bright wizards together could cure it if they banded together!"

Izana glanced back at Corrin, with some surprising gravitas on his usually casual face. "I asked before, sorry. But well, god mysteries and all!"

Corrin bit his lips but accepted the grim news. "Alright, I see. Now, what would the gods want with me?"

"Well, guess!" Said Izana. They kept walking, up until they saw another black door. Corrin began to ponder.

"Huh… well, I'm a pretty weird half-man, half-dragon hybrid. Huhh, I've got Yato…"

"Well, I'd be lying if I said that this doesn't interest them. But, see Corrin, people aren't always defined by what they own! But by what they are. It's a neat little trick. Say, you're just a normal prince. No mysterious draconic power, and Yato's away. What remains?"

"Hm… a peace-loving prince." Thought Corrin. "But one that's constantly failed to resolve a situation peacefully until now, and keep getting himself into troubles, and is starting to regret leaving his fortress?"

Izana stared at Corrin, in surprise, and then laughed a little. "Oh wow! You know, I thought that you'd have a little ego by now, but you're pretty modest! Or you're the opposite of boastful."

"Well, I guess I can handle myself better now, and I have a loving family." Wait, that wasn't about him now, wasn't it? He needed to be more confident, too. He trained for that. "And… well, I've beaten some tough foes now, and I've managed to overcome this situation through words, too. And I know what's next to tackle after the war." He slowly raised his voice with every enumeration. "And now I want to tackle the higher-ups of Nohr, but first, I'll defeat Hoshido, and I'll get to receive the truth about my mother!"

"Nice! Nice!" With a casual gesture, Izana opened the door. Corrin pumped his fist and entered a small wooden room. It was somewhat similar to the rest of the rooms in the castle, contrasting oddly with the rather sinister tunnel that was leading to it. Some cushions were laying on the floor, and Izana sat on it rather casually, whereas Corrin got on his knees. When he realized that the seer was taking it easy though, he switched his stance to take a pose roughly similar to Izana.

A table separated them, with a small crystal ball. The table itself was intricate and covered in symbols that he had never seen before. "So, Corrin, I'll give ya some extra tasty sushi tonight if you manage to figure out what this room was used for!"

"Erm, I guess that it's… where the séances start? Was it brought from that continent you guys came from?"

"Correct!" Izana clapped. "The gods insisted it'd be taken. My ancestors placed it there, and for centuries, it had remained there. I wasn't too worried about Zola getting to it admittedly, there are measures to take in place against that." He quickly waved his hands. "ANNYYYYWAAYY! Well, as you can see, we use this to contact the gods! Usually it's done by lone seers but sometimes, we meet someone whom we deem worth doing that too! It's one of the reasons why I sent you that letter."

"I see… Ah, but didn't you mean to unite Hoshido and Nohr too?"

"Yep! But I'll talk more about this. Let's politics, more godlytics! So! I'm going to channel the gods, and I'm going to go ooooooommmmmm, but it'll still be good ol' me speaking through, just all weird! I'm going to ask them a couple of questions about your fate, and, hey, maybe you could sneak a suggestion or two!"

Corrin blinked, aghast at the idea that he'd get to talk to the gods. He quickly brushed his hair and adjusted his clothing, just in case he'd make a bad impression. "Hm… Could the gods protect some of the hapless people of Hoshido from scum like Hans and Iago? M-maybe not all of them, since it'd probably be asking too much, but I know that I'm not going to be able to help them, so I'd rather…"

The Archduke stared at him and smiled. "That's a pretty pure answer! Well, the gods don't care about who lives or die but I'll be asking! They do like me, afterward! Alright, I'm going to get all glowy now, don't panic! It shouldn't do anything to you!"

Izana laughed slightly and held his hands out, grasping the orb between the palms of his hands. The man then took an unusually intense expression and the table lit up. Corrin backed off a little in surprise before realizing that whatever was happening probably wasn't dangerous. Curious in what was going on, he approached, noticing that the light was coming out of several of the symbols and spilling everywhere into the room.

Light was coming out of Izana's eyes and mouth, bright enough to cause Corrin to wince before his eyes adjusted. The light was harsh but after a few seconds, it stopped being a nuisance to his eyes. There was something almost soothing to it, even if it was currently coming out of the seer's wide-open maw.

A deep sound escaped Izana's throat, one that a human possibly couldn't make, and it still couldn't prevent the young man from taking his eyes away from the light. It's not like he was seeing anything in particular. The light itself smoothed him. He felt like a man seeing his promised land on the horizon after countless years of wandering. The sight of the most beautiful places in Hoshido soon became a distant memory for him, and the country itself followed suit. Nohr also vanished from his memory, along with that annoying old King Garon and his lackeys.

He felt warm and secure, and almost reached, eager to leave that world behind him. Before he could complete it though, the sight of his family, the remembrance of his duties and, amongst all, the figure of a certain woman flashed unto his mind, and the young man blew backward, as if repelled by a particularly strong explosion. Izana didn't react yet, but in the seconds following Corrin's sudden fall, the light slowly shut out and he came back to normal, clearing his throat. He prepared to say something, instantly regaining his usual behavior, but then looked down in alarm as he saw Corrin get back up from his spot. He rubbed his back, but that was an instinctual gesture. It'd take worse for him to feel pain.

"Hey, Izana. Sorry, I fell. I, huh, got frightened by a big bug."

"Huh-huh." The reply was colder than he thought. "You… weren't quite supposed to do that." He looked up and his smile came right back on, with almost frightening speed. "Oh wait! I know what happened! I'm not used to granting guests, so perhaps their essence kind of seeped through me! It can be a bit overwhelming, at times!"

"Y-yes. It took the form of a… a really big bug."

Izana didn't believe him, but carried on as if nothing happened. "Well, forget that big bug! The gods have been talking to me! And they've got some juicy info! So, I can't tell you how it all ends! Because, well, it'd be like seeing the last pages of a book before seeing the rest! It'd be a bit boring!"

"Yeah, Elise does that sometimes." He nodded. "But, huh, can you tell me that I live through it?"

"Silly Corrin, we all die eventually!" Corrin made a very worried face in answer to Izana's nonchalant laughter. "Yes, you'll make it through. You're certainly… going to see the end of this conflict and beyond! Anyway, speaking of that! Ohhh, nasty little conflict"

"Y-yes, very nasty."

"Alright, so, your next foes are not going to be Hoshidans!" Izana waved his hands. "And you might face them sooner than you think! Your destiny's about to reach a turning point very soon!"

The emphasis on soon bothered Corrin, and he leaned back to observe the roof, somewhat annoyed. Why couldn't they just leave him to enjoy some rest in a peaceful country? Izana, spotting his annoyance, raised his finger. "Ah, don't worry, the dinner's fine! Anyway, in the future, I can see… I can see an idiot, with a grudge against the world." The leader of Izumo grew a bit colder at that, and looked down on his table. "The almighty idiot will sail through the continent. He'll roar against the very earth and will fight against it before being struck down. Faced with an abyss of pain, and also a helping hand against it, he'll still choose the abyss out of spite."

Before Corrin could react, Izana switched to the next prophecy. "You'll go through forests, through plains, to the sky. Later, an attack, but not one from the front. Plenty of wolves in sheep's skins in the wood."

Izana looked away. "And that's that! Well, that was a bit ambiguous and super creepy! But at least, you'll get to know what's coming!"

The prince gulped and got up, being patted on the back by Izana. "But… well, why would you tell me then? I appreciate, erm, meeting the gods and all but why would I earn such an honor?"

"Well, I just feel sympathetic to you! You're a child split between Nohr and Hoshido after all. Tell ya what, I can tell ya that you're going to have a good time when all this stuff gets over and done! Well, I mean, you'll notice when you get there!"

"O-okay then." Corrin figured out that whatever fate awaited him was probably gruesome, if it made Izana sympathetic enough to try to read his future. He appreciated the weird man's attempts at cheering him up, and how he apparently had a good future in store at the end, but he also felt worried. What kind of enemy was awaiting him? Perhaps the Kitsune people, who weren't exactly in league with Hoshido and who roamed close to the border of Izumo?

"Anyway! We've had our fill of scares! Let's get ourselves a good drink and get into the sauna! I can tell you, I'm not going to need to see the gods to know what you and I are going to have a roarin' good time! So let's go before things get all grumpy and political. I want to see what you Nohrians think of my drinks!"

Corrin shrugged and walked along. For now, he tried to put everything behind him and focus on having a good time. He just hoped that Zola wouldn't accidentally catch him laying about in the sun.

…

It had been a while since Corrin felt this warm and relaxed. He was happily laying in a long-chair at a balcony near his room, with a drink in his hand and some dark glasses of a sort to protect his eyes from the sun. He was wearing a long, white-sleeved kimono which he found quite agreeable, even if the kimono was opened in a way that revealed his chest. Which was already a bit more of a bother for him. So he was wearing a small black shirt below it, in an attempt to look more conservative.

The preceding hours more than made up for the rather harrowing experience with Zola and the prophecy concerning him. They felt more and more distant, as if they happened some other year. He'd even go farther and say that the war itself had been distant in his mind, to a point where Corrin caught himself wondering what he'd do tomorrow, forgetting that he was supposed to leave Izumo and head into Hoshido to resume it.

His other siblings had enjoyed the merits of the country as well, though Leo had a slightly harder time. Unlike Corrin though, they tried hard not to forget the war, and Xander could currently be found below Corrin's balcony, sparing with his retainers using wooden swords. From time to time, his brother would glance down to see how they were doing. Both Peri and Laslow were doing an impressive work fending off the future King of Nohr, and the former was working with Laslow flawlessly. Whenever Xander overwhelmed one of them, the other ran to help them, and they managed to attack in a synchronized manner. The blond prince accepted those odds though, and made teaming-up a necessity, parrying at great speed and tripping up his enemies. If it were not for Corrin's enhanced eyesight, he doubted that he'd be able to even keep track of the fight.

Near them, Beruka was also training using a spear. Unlike the others, she was training by herself, and spearing a poor dummy multiple times over. Corrin considered going down to train with her but he knew that she needed her own time for herself, so while he did get up from his seat, it wasn't to join her. Instead, he finished his drink and walked back to his room and grabbed a serious-looking scroll, talking about some form of holy war done in a far-away continent. However, it was only to pick up a different scroll, talking about the life of a princess and her struggle to find herself the perfect prince.

Corrin looked at the room, in case he'd ever see Izana hiding in a corner, and sat down to start reading. The dark lord had captured the prince, and it was now up to the princess to save him using the prince's fabled sword of light. He skimmed through the text for a while laying in his bed, being so taken by the story that he missed the first knock on his door. When the door knocked a second time, Corrin stopped reading (at the part where the dark lord was about to take off his helmet) and looked up at it.

"You can enter." He said, quickly picking up the serious scroll. The young man quickly placed a finger on his chin and scrunched his face in an attempt to look more serious and analytical. However, that expression very quickly made for shock when Ryoma entered the room, dressed in a red kimono and devoid of his usual headpiece. Corrin would've leaped to seize Yato, but recent peace of mind somewhat slowed his reflexes, and instead, he made the wise decision of standing there in shock, mouth wide agape, the scroll dropping from his hands.

"Kamui." Said Ryoma. "At ease, I am not here to fight. I want to talk to you while there is still time." He glanced at the room and the orange sky and sat down. "I wish to talk about what happened. But before… I want to congratulate you on handling that man. You did well in getting him to stand down without violence. My congratulations may seem hollow to you, but know that I am proud."

Corrin smiled a bit awkwardly, not knowing what to do, so he stammered a little. "T-thanks. I appreciate it, big brother." He realized his mistake but didn't bother correcting himself. "Shall we resume where we left off?"

"About mom?" He said. His paranoia come back in roaring, and he feared that the door, which Ryoma thoughtfully closed, would swing open to reveal his two retainers, carrying Raijinto. The prince would then declare something about concluding their duel and would get up while kicking his chair away before finishing what he started in Macarath.

"Yes, about queen Mikoto." Answered Ryoma. "I think that you should truly get to know your mother before… the rest of the war happens." The prince leaned forward. "Though be warned that not even I know much about your mother. My father seemed to know her from a previous venture but he didn't see fit to reveal it to me… or was killed before he could." His tone gained a slightly better edge that vanished as quickly as it came.

Corrin got up and leaned near the door, with his arms folded. He'd hear it if someone were to come in this position, so he could block the door or at least announce that he was busy. It wasn't that he was being held hostage, but his siblings would naturally panic if they stumbled upon him conversing with Ryoma, and that'd certainly put an end to their current conversation. Until the end of the conversation, he could just pray that Camilla would not try to reach him to get him to partake in some bizarre scheme, but really, any Nohrian showing up would be bad news for him.

"The next events took place years ago. I was barely old enough to run on my own two feet, and Hinoka had joined this world only two years before this fateful night."

"Your mother showed up in our palace on a stormy night. She knocked at our door, and desperately called for an audition with the King. When the guards came to intercept her, she was willing to go along with them though, even when it was clear that she was desperate to see Father. We were curious to know why she'd accept, since it was obvious that she was in a hurry, but we discovered that she was carrying a baby, whom she probably did not want to endanger. To be honest, they intended to put her away in some casern, but father himself heard her call and went to join her."

"I see. That's pretty noble of him."

"Father was never one to refuse someone in distress. Though to be fair, the woman's presence put mother and us at unease, so he may have meant to calm her down as well. However, once he reached the woman, he… immediately ordered the guards to escort her into the palace itself. It was quite a scene." Ryoma smirked wistfully. "Rows and rows of nobles were ignored all of a sudden, and he commandeered a dining room just for her… and you." He pointed at Corrin.

Corrin pointed at himself as a result. "Me." He said, before realizing the obviousness of his question.

"You were only… one month old or so. Mikoto held you quite firmly, and denied the nurses's offer to take care of you. The commotion panicked you for a while, but she sang a melody to you, and you calmed down instantly." Ryoma began to study his memories deeper. "You were wrapped in a blanket made out of some odd texture. You already had your draconic traits at that age apparently, and this caused confusion amongst those who managed to get a good look at you."

Corrin touched his ears and thought of his features a little. No one had asked why he looked like this before, but that was probably because they knew that he wouldn't be able to answer it, or thought that this particular comment would invoke his wrath and result in the swift yet painful consumption of the curious person.

"Father sat down with the woman and talked with her, with his retainers ensuring that nobody could even hear what was going on. Halfway through, he invited Ikona, our mother. They conversed amongst each other and after a while, they emerged out of the room and announced that mother was a friend of Sumeragi who had come to seek shelter after a vicious attack by political rivals. The nobles were somewhat suspicious but dared not to raise their voices, and your mother settled in the palace."

"How was she?"

"Your mother, at first, was… quite nervous. She had bags under her eyes, insisted to keep you around, and barely came out of her room in the first place, though I believe that she was also sleeping a lot. This is understandable, since she looked utterly exhausted after reaching the palace. However, whenever you cried, she'd always get up to comfort you, and would even wait for you to fall asleep or be content before she fell back into sleep herself."

Corrin felt some tears gather in his eyes and struggled to keep the composure that he wanted to have. Sniffling quietly, he looked up at the sun from a window and recoiled a little, as if stunned by the light. This allowed him to quietly wipe away his nascent tears before they made themselves visible. He knew that it was stupid to do that, but he didn't want to look weak in front of his eventual enemy. The dragon prince wanted to look like a strong, competent man, not the confused young prince who, in his heart, still dearly missed his mother.

Ryoma waited for him and kindly "bought" into Corrin's excuse for wiping his eyes. "She continued to say that she was a noble hailing from a town that was raided by rivals. In fairness, there was an attack recently, so it looked plausible after confirmation."

"I thought that Hoshido was… well, a utopia."

"No country is perfect. Even Hoshido has conflicts in it, and the political plays can be as vicious as those in Nohr. Afterward, your mother began to live with us." Ryoma grinned a little. "She was a little clumsy, spoke with a heavy accent and I saw her try to shake hands or embrace the maids sometimes."

Corrin smiled a little as well. It wasn't much, but he liked hearing that. It reminded him that his mother was as human as him in the end.

"Your mother's arrival brought some changes in the palace, of course. Mother seemed to know her, and they spoke respectfully whenever they met, but she seemed to be more… worried. We thought that it was a matter of jealousy, since Mikoto may have been a past love, but there was something else to it." Ryoma looked away. "I never managed to get why both her and Father were so worried about her presence, but she managed to eventually get used to the Hoshidan lifestyle."

"What happened eventually?"

"Mother gave birth to Takumi after a few months, and Mikoto helped her with the process. They often took care of you two when the other was unavailable, though you were, reportedly, a difficult baby to take care of. You'd eat more than Takumi, for instance, and even at that young age you were… a bit stronger than the norm. Heh, you broke one or two toys that I lent you once."

Corrin's answer was a sheepish "S-sorry."

"Then, mother… Ikona, was… taken away while giving birth to Sakura." Ryoma did a better job at keeping his cool than Corrin, but he took another pause afterward, tellingly enough. "Father grieved for weeks, and so did we. Then, eventually, Mikoto came to him to soothe his pain, and they eventually fell in love and got together. Though it only became official after a year of waiting, to avoid accusations of disrespecting our mother's memory. The nobles were frustrated, since they intended to present their daughters to him, but our subjects were mostly happy with the news. And besides, even a noble know not to contest the king's orders."

Ryoma then put his hand on the bridge of his nose. "But unfortunately, we didn't. Grief is a… bizarre thing for a child to cope with, Corrin. All of a sudden, our mother was lost, and Mikoto stood in her place. We took the news badly, and refused to speak to her for a while. And, since you were her son, we also decided to ignore you as well. Both Takumi and Sakura were too young for this though. They always saw Mikoto as their mother, since Ikona was gone before they could remember her."

"Alright, and then…"

"We spent a few months and, towards the end, started to accept Mikoto as a mother. We began to play with you again. Father, however, had become concerned with Nohr. This was quite surprising to the rest of the court since Nohr and Hoshido had been fighting for dominance over Kossetsu ever since the age of settlers, but Sumeragi had fought against the tyrannical Samael alongside the likes of King Garon or Fuga." Ryoma almost spat while speaking of Garon. "And had a friendship with the then-young prince. His heart having mellowed after knowing grief, he decided to try to hold his hand out to Garon to form peace talks."

"Yeah." Corrin folded his arms. "But why would he take me along with him?"

"As a show of goodwill, perhaps. To make Garon understand that he wouldn't trigger an attack while a child was nearby."

"But why me?" Asked Corrin, with a bit of anger slipping into his voice. "Was it because I wasn't his kid? H-hey, wait, before we go on any further, who is my real father?"

"I cannot say. Mikoto said that you are the son of a noble from another family." He explained. "Who sacrificed himself to cover her escape… Now, in fairness, he also took me to go see the peace talks. He said that, as his eventual successor, I would need to see how diplomacy with other heads of state would go. Mikoto was worried, but Sumeragi picked Cheve, a neutral town, and was hard to convince when his mind was set. We left, but Garon had prepared a trap in advance." Ryoma glared at the air, in remembrance. "Father held off the archers by himself, along with the help of Saizo and Kaze's father. He managed to very nearly defeat the entire ambush squad by himself until Garon attacked him." Ryoma looked up at the ceiling, in apparent fascination. "They fought, and eventually, my Father managed to stab Garon in the throat and delivered a lethal electric shock to his entire body. But… that beast just laughed, and fatally wounded him. He then kidnapped you while I barely managed to escape with Father's retainers. He wasn't interested in getting Raijinto, however. He threw it back at us."

Corrin's anger rose, even if he knew that Ryoma may not have been telling the truth. Garon had willingly interrupted peace talks? But why? He was a man who wanted to save Nohr. Why would he refuse an offer that could allow the two countries to work on undoing the blight? How could he survive being stabbed in the throat by Raijinto too? He was quite familiar with how damaging its lightning was and not even Xander could survive having the legendary weapon pierce his neck.

"Once we returned, the idea of teaming up with Nohr quickly became a myth. Mikoto became the queen, and decided to take measures to prevent Nohr from launching another assault. First, she sent ninjas to try to bring you back. Secondly, she used an ancient spell to create a barrier all over the country, to prevent another attack, this cast doubts amongst others, for only a few select mages in history could cast a spell capable of shielding an entire country, but most were happy to be protected."

Corrin knew how she did it, but didn't bother to comment on it.

"Several ninjas failed to bring you back but one man proposed himself, and she accepted to send him into a mission. That mysterious man crossed Nohr, infiltrated Windmire, retrieved one of Garon's children and crossed the blighted country on foot, while carrying for that baby. Few could accomplish such a feat, and Yukimura was surprised to see him back." Ryoma shook his head slightly. "But unfortunately, his commendable act was only partly successful. The man managed to get away with a child of royal blood, yes, but it was…"

"Azura." Corrin wondered if the man had mistaken the very young Azura for Corrin. They both had blue hair after all, and… no, it didn't make sense. He already had his special traits, after all, and he was quite sure that Mikoto would've given him a thorough description beforehand.

"The man said that you were not in the castle. He had investigated Krakenburg as much as he could, given the presence of the king's shadows within the building, but he said that while he heard rumors of a prince who had been taken away, you weren't in the palace. As he put it in… plain terms, this motivated him to, quote, "show that old bastard some justice" by taking away a child. The decision caused some initial panic, since it was unthinkable to have a child of the dusk dragon be raised by the sons of the dawn dragon, but… when Mikoto saw Azura, she immediately requested for her to be kept, paid the man handsomely, and he left."

"He's not under your employ anymore?"

"No. He even said that he was only doing it to make up for a certain hole in his finance. His absence is a shame. A man who can cross Nohr, reach into its heart, kidnap one of Garon's beloved children and flee while the country's various rat-catchers and other elite soldiers were on his tails is certainly useful." Ryoma looked at Corrin. "Later on, we learned that you had been placed in a fortress north of Nohr shortly after your kidnapping."

"Yeah. I don't remember going to Windmire until recently. For a while, my world was this fortress, and I didn't know about what was going on outside."

"How cruel. Restraining a young child like that… it must've been a shock for you. From the green plains of Hoshido to a castle in Nohr, with the rotting land of Nohr being your only horizon."

Corrin raised an eyebrow a little. "I… I quite like it. Well, of course, as a kid I was upset about not getting to come out, but I had Gunter to take care of me, and Felicia too, she was quite clumsy! And she always had Flora to scold her… Oh, and Jakob too. He's kinda rude but he was always nice to me. I made a friend too, name's Silas, we made a promise to eventually see more of the world together, and I guess that we're kind of doing that now! Also, my family often visited me. It was odd at first, but I grew used to them." The young dragon glanced at the sun. "The fortress was in a scary place, and I like being out of it, but to be honest, I felt safe in there. It was just my friends and I, and we'd learn things or experience." He lowered his head slowly. "There was no war, no one wanted to kill me, I fought using wooden swords and we knocked each other down (or, to be honest, I got knocked down. Xander's strong!) when we won. It was nice, and quiet. And I liked that."

"You sound… almost regretful." Said Ryoma.

"… What did mom do afterward?"

"She took Azura under her wings and taught her that song that she uses. People were a bit distrustful at first, but we warmed up to her eventually. However, it was rather painful to live on while knowing that you were out there, somewhere. Plenty of times, Mikoto sent skillful ninjas to try to find you, but they were often caught by Nohrians. Sometimes, full-blown war was encouraged, even. But Mikoto would always say that the Nohrians were suffering too much to take another war. Garon needed to be taken down, yes, but he would hide behind his subjects, and Mikoto refused to bear innocent blood on her hands."

"She was right… Ryoma. You've seen how bad Nohr is. There are slums in there."

"Indeed. But our hopes of cooperation died with Father." He replied. "Nohr had suffered, and he had realized it, but as long as Garon is in power, cooperation is impossible. The plight of the people of Nohr is caused by the foolishness of their leaders."

"But Qliphoth poisoned the land. It's not anyone's fault except them, is it?"

"I'm sure that Nohr could find a solution. Perhaps you'll ask the wizards who kept sending those atrocious golems into our country to look at the problem?" Ryoma sighed. "I'm sorry, I… Mikoto knew. And she was a wonderful leader. She always had kind words for her people and was a voice of reason, but she also had a sillier side to her. The accent never went away, and she still couldn't make sense of chopsticks."

Corrin chuckled a little. He knew that his mother had something of an accent, since he was taught Hoshidan ("Knowledge of your enemy come with their tongue", advised Gunter), but he never commented on it.

"She was a wise queen, but despite her warmth, she never opened up to anyone. She was not stand-offish, or rude, but beneath the smile there was… regret, sadness. Not surprising out of a woman who had seemingly lost two husbands, her home, and her son, yes, but unfortunately, she never allowed one of us to comfort her over it. She would always think of someone else instead of herself. And that is certainly noble, but it meant that Mikoto never truly got the emotional support that she needed."

Corrin grew a bit silent. It wasn't surprising to hear that his mother had a flaw, even if it was certainly a "good" flaw. And by that, he meant that Mikoto's error was to take it all on herself and refuse to share her pain with others. Heh, even when they were discussing her failings, they could still find ways to compliment her… He was pleased to know that his mother was such a good woman, though he was finding some uncomfortable similarities between them as well, such as a desire to carry their burden alone, even when plenty would love to support them through it.

"I see… hmm, what happened afterward?"

"She ruled over Hoshido wisely and for a little while, we tried to turn the other eye… However, Nohr then launched a ruthless attack using those soulless golems. They could breach through the barrier owing to having no souls, and their superior strength, speed, and resilience made it tough for soldiers to defeat them. Our people suffered, and plenty of peasants had to run back to the cities to escape these roaming beasts. Our diviners eventually managed to devise spells meant to strike them and our famed blacksmiths created swords capable of easily slaying them. However, Nohr kept sending them in, to the point where we found ourselves roaring for war again. But Mikoto refused to send troops. Nohr would eventually destroy itself, she argued, and it would be lowering themselves to their level to break past the barrier and fight them when we could wait it out. Plus, she cared for the fate of the less fortunate of Nohr. Which is commendable, of course, but I must admit…"

Corrin listened patiently, and Ryoma, after awaiting some intervention, continued. "I will never understand why she waited for this long. From what I've gained of her martial skills, be it in training or when a foolish assassin attempted to attack her, she was quite strong herself, and we all trained in preparation for a conflict with Nohr. We elaborated strategies to hit them hard, knew that we had more soldiers available and our discipline is equal to their own."

"And yet, you were still fended off in the end, weren't you?" Corrin almost said, though his answer was more diplomatic. "Maybe she thought that annihilating Nohr would lead to a lot of problems. The Hoshidans would have to care for the innocent Nohrians, and conquering the land itself wouldn't make much sense when it's blighted. Having to occupy it wouldn't be worth the trouble."

"Of course, but we would intend to smash Nohr's corrupt hierarchy first and foremost. The gods know we tried… We'd send some of the best-hired killers this side of the continent to try to kill some nobles, but they'd fail."

Corrin's eyes widened slightly, and Ryoma nodded, silently answering his question. "Your mother was not fond of King Garon, but why would she show pity towards the man who took her husband and stole her son? As saintly as she was, not even she could allow the tyrant to walk away with his actions."

"Well… she… she still made the right decision to target him or the nobles." He muttered, Ryoma looked at him in surprise and Corrin shook his head. "So, what happened when I was found?"

"Kamui, do you doubt of Garon?" Asked Ryoma, with an odd mixture of bitterness and hope in his voice. "Have you realized that the man who killed your father, kidnapped you, sent you on a mission to die, and impose a tyrannical rule over his country is evil?"

"I never went back for Garon." Almost shouted Corrin. He controlled himself and took a moment to breathe in and out. "I went back for my siblings, and because the state of Nohr meant that a lot of people would die if an all-out war were to ensue. Hoshido could survive a proper invasion, but Nohr would be finished off. And, while some of the people in it are evil, a lot of them are just unfortunate people, just as tormented by Garon as you or I."

"… Hm." Ryoma backed off a little. "You do sound like her… But to honor your request, when she heard that you had been saved from the clutches of Nohr, Mikoto was overjoyed! She couldn't anticipate that Nohrian brainwashing would make you identify as a member of their royal family, but she remained calm. She had been waiting to see you for years, after all."

"Yeah, she even kept my room the same after all these years… Hrm, could I ask, is it still…"

"It's still in the same state. It serves as a shrine for both her and Kamui." He said. "Takumi made it so. After you went back to Nohr, he headed for the room and decided to keep it the same in the honor of his mother and the brother that he lost that sorrowful day."

Corrin sniffled again. Having to hold back everything was much harder than he thought, he, once again, wondered just how Beruka could do it?

"And now, what about those letters?"

"They were made in advance. Mikoto… knew that her death was coming, though she didn't know what form it would take. If it were to happen, she left these letters so that we could pass along the truth to you, owing to your mysterious heritage. I and Hinoka always knew, but Takumi and Sakura always believed you to be their brother until they read the letter."

"Then it was a lie." Sighed Corrin. "I'm not a son of Hoshido, aren't I? My father is not Sumeragi, and my mother was… not from Hoshido."

"But she still became its queen. And in the end, my Father saw you as part of his children. You are a child of Hoshido, Kamui, no matter what. Certainly more than you are a son of Nohr."

"… What about my true father? He wasn't a fallen noble, was he?" Asked Corrin.

"She wouldn't tell anyone, be it father, or I, or her retainers, Orochi and Reina. He's a mystery."

Disappointing, but not surprising. He was sure that his father was the key behind the presence of those powers, but who was he? What kind of powerful stranger could be seen running around, and why would he leave Mikoto behind? Was he perhaps slain? Unfortunately, the one person that knew what truly happened had been taken away and it was unlikely to anyone knew. He'd ask Izana, but he wasn't sure that he could get away with such a request, wouldn't it be selfish?

Regardless, Corrin ultimately put that aside. His father was either dead, in what case he mourned the man who gave him life, or he somehow decided to abandon Mikoto, in which case he wasn't worth thinking over. Well, he was, by having draconic powers, but for now he wasn't a priority, not when his son had already so many things to take care of, such as a full-blown war.

"… Mother, she was a woman with secrets, right?"

"She was. But her love for you was not one. She waited for you for years, and in the end, I think…" Ryoma looked at Corrin and sighed. "I think that you were truly worth it, in her eyes."

"… Thanks." Said Corrin. "I'm going to struggle with living up to her legacy, won't I?"

"You might just destroy it." Said Ryoma. Corrin winced, but his older "brother" did not ease his stance. At the very least, he wasn't sugarcoating. "You're certainly a good man, Kamui. I know not to succumb to the Nohrian tales of your exploits. And from what I've seen, your family is as noble as you are. But a good man can only do what the world around him allows him to do, and unfortunately enough, there will always be evil men to block you. Kamui, are you willing to fight for those men? To poison the land, kill the weak, and enslave the strong for the sake of a man who has done nothing but torment you? Hate him as you want, you're working for him." Ryoma got up and stared at his brother. "The scum at the top will benefit from the invasion more than the peasants that you wish to help, after all. Your actions will directly benefit Garon and his sociopathic boot-lickers. Whenever you manage to take down a Hoshidan soldier, it is in Garon's service. Every meter of Hoshidan soil that falls under Nohrian occupation now belongs to him. The terrified citizens that you spare will be at the mercy of his soldiers, and we both know that a starved bear would be more merciful by comparison."

"I know, Ryoma, but Xander and the others will help me. Iago is a coward, Hans is a brute and Garon… respect his children. He'll listen to us. Besides, I can tell you that not all Nohrians are brutes, they will listen to us. We cannot just waltz in and try to simply cut down Garon, "brother". It would cause panic, his loyalists would fight back and it would split the country. If we can get him to step down himself, it will be easier to do the clean-up."

"Then, shall Hoshido burn while you wait for the perfect opportunity?"

"… Look, we'll talk about this tonight. I'm glad that you decided to talk to me, my friend. And I want you to know that I hold no grudges against you or the others. I'm in a complicated situation myself." He realized that this would perhaps be the last time he'd see his brother in a peaceful setting, one on one, and lowered his head. "And… well, I was wishing that we could talk about something else."

Ryoma sighed. "Kamui, I would love to do the same, but even in this kingdom, I cannot forget the threat that looms over my country's inhabitants. I am sorry. At least, though, you know more about your mother." He rose from the chair. "The next time we meet, our hands will be holding swords. Brother, as much as it pains me, I will fight you to the best of my ability to defend my people, family, and kingdom. Please, do not hold back then. Please, fight to your fullest. I will be doing the same, and we both know that you will need all your skills to survive."

"… I will fight you to the best of my ability." He promised. "And I will still be able to neutralize you without killing you. Dismiss this as foolish if you must, brother, but I shall prevail."

"Then I shall pray for you." Replied Ryoma. "Farewell, Corrin." There was a noticeable change in his voice at this point, like the word itself was disagreeable for him to say.

But as he walked out, and as Corrin began to walk back to his bed, he turned around briefly. "… And I hope that you enjoy this romance novel." He said, warmness subtly returning to his voice. And his brother turned around, with an embarrassed blush on his face. They smiled, briefly, and then he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Corrin waited for him to leave, and sat down on his bed.

Then, marks appeared over the sheet, and Corrin fell unto the fabric on his back, tears pouring out of his eyes. Finally letting out all that sadness that he'd been holding back, Corrin did nothing else but cry for a few minutes (though it may as well have been longer). He cried about the father that he'd never know, in part, but also for the kind Sumeragi, who fell to arrows. For his mysterious mother, who hurt deeply but was a kind woman to the end. For his brother, who, by finally using his Nohrian name, seemingly accepted that his little brother was dead. He cried at the sheer injustice of waiting for Garon to step down himself instead of taking him down while there was still time and people to save.

It was pathetic for a prince of Nohr to do that, perhaps, but he didn't care at all about something as minor as that for the moment. He simply bawled his eyes out in a particularly undignified manner.

"M-mom…" He croaked a few times, staring at the ceiling. He missed her the most, perhaps. But he missed Gunter, as well, just as much as he missed his old life in the fortress. Both good people who cared for him and, in the latter case, took care of the young Corrin and, almost, the other servants, and was rewarded for his years of loyalty to Nohr by being coldly dropped from a bridge by Hans. And his mother lost so much, retrieved her son after years of doubt, and died at the hands of a mysterious hooded figure, certainly as a part of Garon's plan to take over Hoshido.

Still crying, he thought about her for a moment. Would he have even joined Nohr if she still drew breath? Would he, in that fateful day, have decided to abandon his true kingdom and seeming siblings to go back to a sinister father figure whom it would be tremendously kind to describe as "distant"? In a way, Corrin slowly realized that he didn't care for Nohr before the war. He saw naught but its dying landscape for years, barely met people outside of his family circle, and his so-called father was a tyrant who assigned him a traitorous brute to "watch over him". He thought about how the people of Hoshido had it easy of course, and cared about the people of Nohr who had to thrive on their small amount of resources of course, but unsettlingly enough, he would've been able to push that out of his mind if he had to.

His mother's death had put Corrin in a state of intense turmoil, and when forced to choose two camps, he ultimately went for the more familiar one. He didn't regret it, and now that he saw just how miserable the average Nohrian was (and got to meet quite a few of them) his determination to help them was even stronger, but he thought about just how easy his choice would've been with the queen alive and well, and realized that were it not for that hooded figure, he'd probably be in Hoshido relaxing somewhere, or out there, invading Hoshido with the rest of his family.

The young man wondered how his afterlife would go. Once he'd meet Mikoto, would she be scornful of him? Would she show shame for the son who sacked her kingdom and worked for her murderer? Or would her kindness allow her to forgive her son, who still strived to try and save people? He didn't know, and that's probably why he went for another round of crying. On top of invading Hoshido, he'd perhaps shatter his mother's legacy to better allow her murderer's grasp to choke the sunny country.

Corrin kept crying for a long time, and his enhanced senses didn't even register someone's approach. When the door slid open, apathy, and the knowledge that even a blind person could tell something was wrong pushed the prince to react about three seconds too late. Before he could speak up though, whoever entered his domain quickly approached, and the prince forced himself to stand up, in case he'd face a brazen assassin.

"W-who's there?" He asked, with anger in his voice. "I'm fine, don't worry, just leave me alone!"

Beruka stared back at Corrin, half her face lit up by the light outside. She raised a curious eyebrow, and whatever energy possessed Mikoto's son left him entirely.

"S-sorry! I was a bit… upset." He said, taking a proper sitting stance and praying that the darkness outside would somewhat prevent his tears from being seen. He also somehow hoped that it'd cover the shaky tone in his voice or the teary stains on the sheet below. He also only realized that night had fallen, meaning that he spent a lot of time crying by his lonesome. It almost embarrassed him.

"… The dinner will be ready soon. I was sent on Lady Camilla's behalf to warn you." Said Beruka. She remained still for a little while. "You were crying." Pointed out the assassin, with a hint of curiosity in her composed voice, and even, somewhat, worry.

Corrin prepared himself to say that he was fine and even raised his hand to make a dismissive little hand wave, but he remembered that Ryoma said about his mother. As great as a woman as she was, her fatal flaw prevented her from getting some needed help in the end. By pushing away people who could help, he'd be making the same mistake as her.

"Y-yeah. I was crying."

Beruka remained silent and her eye peered at the door. She moved to swiftly close it before checking the room, perhaps searching for something. Once she acquired what she needed, some soft paper in a tiny box, the blue-haired rider walked up to him and, in a manner that was both somewhat awkward and precise, moved to wipe his tears. Surprised, the young man said nothing as the assassin moved to wipe away the traces left by his tear, without telling a thing. Once she was done, she simply disposed of the tissue and he used his hands to dispose of whatever remained.

"T-thanks?" He said. He hadn't expected her to do it, even if he appreciated it.

"… Why were you crying?" Asked Beruka. He pulled on his collar a little in answer. "Huh, I was thinking about my mother, and everything. Hm, Ryoma came to see me to talk about it. And only that, of course!" Argued the prince, holding up his hands when Beruka's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "You know, erm, queen Mikoto. The woman who died shortly before the Nohrian invasion of Hoshido."

"Ah, your mother. You miss her?" She asked. It was an obvious answer, but there was some confusion in Beruka's voice, like she couldn't understand why.

"Y-yeah." He said, nearly adding a obviously before figuring out that Beruka was probably genuinely asking. "My mother. I-I know, she was the queen of Hoshido, but still, she… certainly had a hard life, and then she had to be taken away."

"Hm… I cannot understand." Declared the young woman.

Corrin nearly asked her if she felt the same way about her mother, but remembered Beruka's unique conditions growing up in the slums (un)luckily enough, she noticed. "My parents quickly abandoned me as a child. I cannot easily understand the bonds between a child and a parent." Beruka looked rather somber, well, more so than usual. "But I care little about them in return."

"That's a bit sad." Corrin watched her. "The slums… they're a despicable thing. I don't know why Garon would want to keep them."

"… The slums are a bit older than Garon. Suffering breed strength, and Nohr is the country of strength. Many of the children from the slums are now being led by you and the others to invade Hoshido." Beruka stared at Corrin. "And the nobles are interested in them to suppress rivals or entertain themselves. You will need a lot of effort to get rid of the slums."

He listened to her and nodded. "Yeah, well… If we… Once we make it through this, I'm not going to let a bunch of old nobles stop me from doing something righteous." He said, confidently, now remembering Xander's decision. Beruka seemed rather unconvinced though, and Corrin faltered. "Y-yeah, I know, I say that and then I cry about my mother, I haven't worked out the intimidation part yet."

"No. I don't mind crying. It shows that you still have your soul. You still feel sorrow over what you've lost, or what other people have lost, and you can still feel something when you take a life." She got up and began to walk around the room. "I don't. Nowadays, I do not care when I take a life and I would not care if someone like Selena perished in front of me... I haven't cried for about 20 years. " She looked at him over her shoulder. "That is the difference between you and me."

Corrin looked over at her, briefly in shock, and looked down. "… I think you're lying."

"Pardon me?"

"I know you well enough to just… know that you're lying. There's just a bit of hesitation in your voice."

Beruka frowned a little. "No. Regardless of what you said, I am an assassin." She fully turned to face him. "I have an announcement to make, speaking of that, I… have… lost track of how much time has been going on. We should be heading to the feast."

"O-oh, right! I forgot! I guess I'm gonna change!" He said. The assassin stayed there for a little while before realizing what he meant and stepping off.

"… Lord Corrin?" She asked, peering at him.

"Yeah?"

"… May we continue the discussion later?"

"Sure! Sure, with pleasure!" He said. Beruka nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. She thought about what he said, and couldn't help but grimace when thinking back of what he said. For while she could easily dismiss his words as mere reassurance, she knew, deep down, that he was right.

"Corrin, I will become a part of the king's shadows after this." She repeated in her head. She'd just need to say those words to him. Hardly a challenge for her.

Right?

...

N/A : Hey, missed this one, sorry!

Here's a talky chapter, the next one will also feature some of it but there will be quite the action, promise! It might be slightly shorter but don't worry about it!

Don't forget to leave reviews and the likes, I love them! And thanks to HopelessRomantic1020 for the shout-out!

See ya soon!


	26. The feast and a battle by the lake

The feast was as gorgeous as Izana hyped it up to be. He could see various Hoshidan meals scattered all over the three lengthy tables at the hall of the castle, but also quite a lot of Nohrian food, and meals from other countries that he had never tasted before. Corrin was currently experimenting with one of them, holding up a cream-covered potion of pork with the tip of his fork and slowly rotating it, in stunned contemplation. Next to him, Camilla was having less trouble picking her food, and seemed to mostly funnel random things into her plates.

Xander, ever the gracious one, took it upon himself to preserve the family lineage by coolly eating some Nohrian meals first and foremost, though etiquette demanded that he sometimes picked something more Hoshidan. Leo was somewhat less conservative, but that was perhaps because he had trained with magic during the day, and needed to replenish his strength. He could've done so without devouring enough tomatoes to feed an entire regiment, but who was Corrin to judge his brother, especially when he had himself gathered quite a lot of food?

"Zola wasn't lying about the tomatoes." Quietly noted the blond man, observing his feast with a look of unusual hunger in his eyes. Elise seemed confused by the more eccentric meals offered, and stuck to her guns by taking whatever she recognized and sticking to it. In entire contrast, Azura had mostly picked foreign food, including Hoshidan one, and was eating at a fast pace though she somehow managed to remain dignified and proper while doing so.

Everywhere else in the room, Nohrians were facing Hoshidans, staring at each other with a look of disdain at best, disgust at worst. Had it not been for Izumo's neutrality pact, packing several soldiers of the rival countries and giving each a fork and a knife would be begging for a somewhat creative massacre, but Izana managed to retain control of the situation. Whenever someone started a scene, he'd just yell even louder, and this would subtly remind the antagonistic parties of where they were. Corrin could only thank the gods that none of Hans's psychopathic recruits had been invited. Divine retribution or not, they would have attacked regardless of Izana's words, and would've perhaps done so just to spite him.

The retainers sat in front of the retainers, and the soldiers in front of the soldiers. Amongst the retainers, glares were fierce. That blue-haired woman had a vicious glare lodged on her face for instance. Niles, however, was quite unfazed by it and stared back without hesitation, with an annoying small smile on his face. There was little dialogue being done, though plenty of wonderful insults were being exchanged under the participant's breaths, with the exception of Effie (who was too busy eating), Arthur (who seemed honestly shocked whenever someone insulted him) and Laslow, who was ignoring Saizo's words of venom. Peri was obviously a danger here, since she could fly into a rage if insulted enough, but she seemed to be following Laslow's example.

And luck had it, she was facing a monk, who had his eyes closed and seemed quite eager to throw various destabilizing quips. Peri either didn't understand or didn't care though, and happily dug into her own food.

"Hey, Laslow, look, there's red stuff that come out if I stab the steak!"

"Yes, Peri, but don't stab too much or you'll spread it." He said, politely wiping it away with a handkerchief. "And you'd end up looking pretty improper in a big meeting. And that might make Lord Xander upset."

Saizo scowled disdainfully. "Hmph, are those really the retainers of the crown-prince? A madwoman and a servant who need to lead her around?"

"Madwoman? Hihihi! That's a complicated word, but it's funny! I'll use it in the future, thanks!"

"Hum… you've got a fascinating mind, little girl. You know, when we, in Hoshidan, think "Nohrian military", you're exactly what come to mind."

"That's very nice of you! I'm going to make myself even more remembered in the future when we eventually… fight you!" She turned around and raised a thumb at Laslow, who was in the middle of eating some ramen. Struggling to fully suck in his meal, he raised his thumb after some seconds of delay. Not that it bothered Peri.

Meanwhile, Selena was contemplating her meals, and carefully picked them. Unlike her neighbor, Beruka, she hadn't even really begun to eat and often took a while picking whatever food she found interesting enough. By the time she found herself with a satisfying ensemble, her co-worker had already finished eating some unique dish found in the south of Western Dreiz: The severed tentacles of an octopus, still somehow struggling against all odds. Trying to eat one was a complicated process for rather obvious reasons, but Beruka didn't mind them at all. She simply bite off small chunks and kept the tentacle steady using her arm, ignoring the vain slaps that it gave away at her.

Arthur was observing Beruka's battle against the severed limb with a confused look on his face, and looked down at the humble steak that he brought himself.

"Beruka, if I may take your time for one second, that is a rather… odd dish that you are consuming."

"Yes." She noted. "But the suctions cups are gone. There should be little danger if I eat it right."

"Ah, of course! It is rather well-thought…"

"If done improperly, they will stick to the inside of the throat. Choking on that food is rather common." She wiped her hands, having successfully defeated the arm. "It can be a hazard, but not as much as that." She pointed at a thankfully inert fish, untouched until now. Her opposing retainer, a tall man with long red hair and a feminine face, recoiled a little once he witnessed the fish.

"Huh? What could be more dangerous than a severed wriggling arm being lowered down your throat, my friend? And, huh, why exactly is dangerous food allowed here?" His blue eyes darted back and forth over his plate.

"It's Fugu. It is a toxic fish. There's a lethal amount of Tetrodoxin located in its inner organs." Beruka pointed at the creature. "Consumption of the poison result in a paralysis of the muscles, leading to an inability to breath, leading to asphyxiation. The victim will stay fully conscious through all of this." Shortly after saying this, she moved her cutlery to the fish, and Arthur visibly held back from tackling Beruka.

"My friend, surely you will not eat the fish after you just described the rather unfortunate fate that await those that consume it!"

"The cook, if he's good, will have taken care of that."

She dug into the fish and began to eat it, without a hint of fear or apprehension. Arthur looked at her in obvious worry and Beruka leaned back slightly after a few bites to stare at him.

"This fish is not dangerous if the cook isn't incompetent. Unfortunately, this one was, apologies" She said, before attempting to clutch her heart. Her emotionless façade and lack of physical reaction gave away her survival, but Arthur still seemed to genuinely believe that Beruka had just been poisoned, as attested by the manner in which the big man turned around to try to gesture to Elise. Confused by his waving, the young blonde replied by just politely waving away at him.

"Princess Elise, you-" Beruka tapped Arthur on the back and he turned around. "Oh, Beruka, you're still alive! Have you managed to absorb the poison, perhaps?"

"No. I was doing a… joke." She said. "I was pretending that my muscles were slowly being paralyzed, condemning me to keep my consciousness over the course of my horrible death at the hands of the poison. Was it funny?"

"Erm… Beruka, you are most certainly a skilled warrior, as demonstrated by your triumph over those two elites and performance against the retainers earlier in the day. And, as a hero of justice, I am obligated to be as gentle as possible with my answers. Thus, know that my subsequent phrases are said with as much respect and gentleness as my incredibly muscled body can muster. Beruka, your talent with weapons does not extend to humor!"

Beruka blinked a little. "Oh." She looked away. "Oh well."

"W-well, in fairness, it is your first joke, isn't it? My friend, one is never good at something the first time around! Should you train this skill, the entire world may indeed learn of the famous comedian Beruka! But allow me to ask, why would you make a joke? Forgive me for saying this, but I never exactly saw you as someone who would even dare to utter the smallest pun!"

"I am looking to… learn how interactions work. Interactions including jokes too, do they not?"

"Yeessss, but jokes, my friend, also tend to feature humorous interactions that end in a manner that amuse everyone! Your imminent death by poison, however, is not amusing! Well, perhaps if you had Niles as an audience…" He muttered. "But I'm pleasantly surprised to learn that you would like to learn how to interact, my friend. It would please me to help you with it!"

Beruka nodded quietly. She knew that it was useless to ask, since, after all, she'd become part of the king's shadows after the end of the war. Why would she still seek interaction when she'd need to give up on it anyway? That perplexed her somehow, but perhaps she just yearned to see how interactions went before she definitely crossed those.

"Then tell me of a good joke, please." She said, while eating the remaining part of the fish. Once you got rid of the poison, it tasted pretty poorly. Then again, Beruka would eat literal dirt if it could somewhat feed her, so taste wasn't a worthy metric in her eyes.

"Alright, then allow me to start with a classic! In a most sunny day in… Cyrkensia, a horse walks into a bar! The bartender says…?"

Beruka took a few seconds to figure out that she was being interrogated. "There is an horse in my bar." She said.

"N-no. Why the long face, asks the brave gentleman!" Beruka threw her head back a little with a look of confusion on her face.

"Ah, yes, the horse has a long face. Like someone who is upset has a long face. A pun. How funny." She chuckled, but it was somewhat less genuine than with Corrin, almost similar to the sound of wheezing. "I am having a good time."

"Y-yes… Well, I shall give you a book of jokes later on! And if we may, I would like a discussion with you later!"

"We shall discuss then." Said Beruka. Arthur smiled and began to eat his fish, while Beruka pondered. Jokes didn't seems to amuse her, but somehow, she was able to produce some genuine laughter while Corrin talked at times, why? Before such mystery could be investigated any further, Beruka heard some chocking sound and turned aside to stare at Arthur, who was clutching his heart and dramatically holding his hand up.

"My friend, quick, I appears to be consuming as fish roughly as deadly as the Fugu! Call upon a healer quickly least widows and orphans cry everywhere at the loss of a savior!"

"… Arthur." Beruka looked at the tuna in the plate. "This is not a toxic fish."

Somewhat further out, the royals were discussing amongst themselves, pointedly not looking at their counterparts. Takumi struggled not to glare at Leo or Corrin though, and Hinoka glanced at them more than once too. Sakura used a different tactic by looking at her plate timidly, and Ryoma tried to keep his siblings from looking at their rivals by talking to them whenever he could. Eventually, even he grew tired from that though, and the crown prince of Hoshido turned to dramatically point at his Nohrian counterpart.

"Xander of Nohr." He started. "I wish to… thank you, on behalf of my troops." He briefly glanced at his siblings and also the wider army inside. "You saved my siblings and denied yourself the opportunity to exploit Zola's treachery. Though I am aware that more pragmatic reasons must have guided your hands, I wish to thank you."

"I appreciate this, Ryoma of Hoshido. Take this as a token of our good intention. While trickery is viable in the battlefield, Nohr will not lower itself to unprovoked ambushes on neutral territory any longer." He said. "Our new Nohr will not make the mistakes of the old ones."

"Your new Nohr, heh." Takumi grinned a little. "You may have saved us but I don't believe that you guys are clean in all of this… However, I guess I can still get away with a thank-you." He said. "Even if your retainers roughed up ours."

"Yes, thank you…" Mumbled Sakura. Elise looked up at her.

"Don't worry, we're good guys! We're not going to just let meanies walk all over us again!" She sung. "Hey, what your name, by the way? I've seen you a few times but I never got to talk to you!"

Sakura's eyes widened, almost in terror, but she relented when she noticed Azura. Her behavior was somewhat similar to that of an animal treading in the territory of predators, and it somewhat saddened Corrin. He tried to look quietly at her, but didn't try to make it obvious to avoid freaking her out. Amusingly, his Hoshidan family was doing the exact same thing, though Takumi, especially, seemed to be ready to leap across the table to deliver a beatdown to whoever would try to intimidate his younger sister. And he didn't seem to be shy about picking a fight with Elise herself it it came to it.

"I'm, I'm, I'm Sakura…Erm, nice to meet you?" She said. "Oh, and, hm, hello Azura! You've… you haven't changed too much but I hope you're doing well."

"Oh, that? It's just hair dye! To better look like my big sister! It's a pain to apply, trust me!" Laughed Elise. She briefly tapped her elaborate haircut, and Sakura seemed genuinely interested in it for a moment.

"Thank you Sakura. I am doing… well." Azura looked down at her hand. "It's been a long time, and I'm sorry for that."

"Sorry only for that?" Said Takumi, unimpressed. "You've walked away from us, sister, and you would only offer this pithy excuse?"

Sakura's breath quickened a little and her eyes turned towards Corrin. At that point, she looked surprised. "Oh, big brother Kamui! You… oh, wait, you prefer Corrin, right?"

"It's fine. You can call me whatever name you like." He wondered if Sakura was considerate or if Ryoma told them to drop their naming habit. Whenever he was called Kamui, he knew that they did it out of habit or because they wanted to remind him or the identity that he betrayed when he turned his back on Nohr. Only Takumi, from the start, had decided to bestow him his Nohrian name, apparently to show that he didn't trust his brother.

If he were honest, Corrin would rather not be called Kamui, but he figured that telling them to stop wouldn't quite cut it. He figured that most of them wouldn't really accept to use the name that he preferred after all. Or at least, the name that he had carried for most of his life up to that point. When he tried to look for it, as hard as he could, he remembered, barely, being called that, but it was fuzzy and for rather obvious reasons, looking back on his childhood memories was painful for him.

"Alright, Corrin, you look… different." She sized him up a little and frowned. "It's like you're a bit older."

"Well, I better take care of those greying hair." He said, hoping that this would appease Sakura. This only caused some confusion amongst the listeners though, and only Elise laughed, after taking a few seconds to get what he meant. Sakura, by contrast, shot a confused look at the two siblings.

"No, your hair is blue like always, but you just seem more… tired."

"Corrin, if you feel tired, don't hesitate to say it." Said Azura. She meant well, but Corrin felt a little humiliated at that. Yes, he knew that it was very stupid of him to think that, and the songstress meant all the good in the world to him, but he didn't want to look cuddled, especially in front of his older siblings on the Hoshidan side. He wasn't petty enough to react to Azura's offer in anger though. So he just looked at her and almost eagerly bite into a sushi.

"Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine! It's just that the day was a bit… heavy." He said. It was a poor excuse, but he added another one by dipping the other sushi into some green matter ("wasabi", as it was called) and biting into it. It was a paste that could add some punch to meals, or so he heard, so he figured that eating a lot of it in one go could prove his eagerness. Corrin threw the meal in his mouth and bite down. Spicy as the paste was, all its furor was only comparable to a mild after-taste.

Takumi, having observed Corrin's silent triumph over wasabi, decided to copy him, but underestimated his own resistance to it and froze mid-smirk. After a few seconds, he painfully chewed on the food before swallowing it, and gestured at a nearby waiter to bring him water. He kept a straight face, but he waved his arm with all the desperation of a man, adrift at sea, who had just noticed a vessel in the distance. Hinoka laughed a little but then stopped and quietly fed him her own cup of water, though Camilla and Leo both noticed the archer's troubles and laughed a little at that. Ryoma shot him a sympathetic look but preserved to retain his own dignity by not trying to fumble an assist.

"… Hm. I believe you." Said Azura. She looked away and began to eat in her usual standoffish manner, but she glanced at Corrin every so and then.

"Is there a pro-" He realized that Azura's former siblings were sitting in front of her, and she was probably just as upset as he was by their presence. Unlike him, Azura had seemingly made quick peace with her "betrayal" of Hoshido, but he was quite sure that she still carried some form of guilt or resentment over it. It's just that, like Beruka, she carried herself in a manner that made it hard for anyone else but him to really know know what she was feeling.

He wondered if he should try to introduce her to Beruka at some points. The two women had some superficial similarities, starting with the hair and composed demeanor, but he was sure that they could find some common ground together. He hadn't dared to try it yet, and he'd probably find himself dealing with bigger worries very soon, but he could try to do it once the mess is settled, perhaps?

More importantly than even that, though, he had just frozen himself mid-question. "Huh, if you need to talk to me about anything though, I'm here for you."

"I know that you're here for me." She assured, flashing one of her rare smiles. "But don't worry, it's just a bit overwhelming for me to eat with so many people." Azura briefly looked at the entire room. "It's a bit… silly of me to be nervous when we're always so numerous, I know."

"Don't worry, Azura. I understand." Said Corrin, whispering a little to avoid being heard by Takumi. "If you ever need to, I could try to have an excuse to take my leave, and you could accompany me."

"Thanks, Corrin." Said Azura. She used her left hand to continue eating, but moved her right hand, below the table, to slowly grasp his hand. Rather confused by the gesture, Corrin didn't resist and let his friend grab his hand. She smiled at him again (and he eventually grinned back) and then went back to eating, while still holding his hand. Corrin didn't quite understand what she was doing, but it'd be rude to just let go of her hand, and she perhaps meant to be reassured, so he simply resumed what he was doing;

Sakura and Elise's interactions triggered the rest of their siblings to attempt talking between one another. Takumi was the only one who strictly refused to speak using more than barbs or sneaky insults though, so Hinoka was juggling between Leo and Camilla. Communication with the later was somewhat strained though. Her defeat at the hands of the princess way back in Notre Sagesse was still fresh in Hinoka's mind after all, and Corrin knew that his sister was just as prideful as Takumi, if not moreso.

"How can you tame… those wyverns in Nohr? They seem much fiercer and independent than our pegasi." Asked Hinoka, slowly, through her teeth. Camilla laughed a little.

"Well, we all get a wyvern that we end up bonding with. They're smarter than they look, and will recognize your worth. If you are harsh yet fair, well, congratulations for your wyvern! But if you are weak, indecisive or abusive, well.. the wyvern might decide to roll you off at a convenient height. But since retrieving the material is a mess after such fall, you'll rarely see indecisive people on top of wyverns! But pray tell, how do you ride those winged ponies? I've always wanted to do that as a child."

"T-the pegasi are proud flying stallions, not winged ponies!" Admonished a flustered Hinoka. "They are proud animals as well, but they're ready to give a good kick to a careless or abusive rider as well, like wyverns, I assume. It can take a while to tame them but they're loyal, and they will fight to the bitter end, just like us. They may lack a dragon's hide or claws… or even teeth, but they're just as dangerous as they are."

"Oh, well, if you ask me, they're still pretty cute!"

Hinoka sighed, and Leo took his turn. "Why would the five of you get so close to Izumo when you know that Nohr will soon be at your door?" He asked. Camilla sighed a little.

"One cannot so easily refuse the gods, prince of Nohr. And the five of us could fend off Nohrians if we ever encountered them." She said. "But you won't get me to say what we'll do tomorrow. After all, our war is still on-going."

"Calm down. I'm aware of that. I'm not the kind of person who'd try to get information out of you with a friendly pretense." He said. "I'm merely curious that you'd take this risk."

Meanwhile, Elise and Sakura were talking to one another fairly easily, and the red-haired girl seemed to actually get a bit less shy in her counterpart's presence, reacting to her jokes and even offering one of her own (though she stuttered at the punch line). It made sense for the two to interact easily, since they were younger than the others, but it still warmed Corrin's heart a little.

His families would never co-exist together. Unless they truly made peace, right here and now, they'd never accept one another out of pride or because of the sins done by their predecessors. But Sakura and Elise's interactions somewhat rekindled the hope in Corrin that in the future, maybe Nohr would find a way to make up for what it did, and maybe Hoshido would both accept it and decide to work with the dusk country to offer the continent a bright future.

Of course, the voice in the back of his head laughed harshly at his vision, and he knew that he was setting himself up for disappointment by counting on the kindness of the sadistic deity that threaded his fate, but he allowed himself to slip back into this more naïve mindset just for a while. It's only when Azura eventually let go that he decided to look up to notice that the Songstress was leaving. Izana watched over her, but he didn't seem to be curious.

"I'm sorry, Lord Izana, this is all a bit overwhelming to me. May I leave to take some fresh air?"

"Of course! Of course! It's pretty chaotic in there, is it not? But you should try to get back in time for the dessert! They're so divine, I caught myself talking to them a few times!" Azura smiled awkwardly in answer to his compliment, and walked out of the room. Corrin hesitated in following her but he figured that she probably needed some actual fresh air, and they could always talk about this later in the night.

Beside, if he left so soon, Camilla would get curious and leave, prompting Leo to leave out of worry, prompting Xander to leave to see what his family's doing, prompting Elise to leave because she was annoyed at being left behind. And with the retainers getting involved, too, it could result in Nohr's upper hierarchy walking out en masse from the collaborative meal.

Of course, that explanation didn't matter for him. He'd just tell Camilla and the others that he'd be back "soon". But he'd rather not cause the entire royal family and their retainers to move out just to talk to Azura.

"Is Azura okay?" Corrin's eyes focused on Sakura, who seemed rather worried.

"Y-yeah. You know Azura, huh? She's always the mysterious one." He answered, trying to sound confident when even he didn't exactly know what she was going to do.

The dinner went on for a little while, but the songstress didn't return yet. Both Elise and Sakura glanced at the cushion every now and then, aware that her absence was lasting longer than it should. And what could Corrin do to console them? He wasn't really aware of what the blue-haired woman was doing.

"Oh… you've bonded with Azura, too?" Asked Sakura to Elise, having noticed her fellow princess's confusion with the vanishing songstress as well. The blonde laughed a little in answer.

"Yeah! She's great, isn't she? But she's a bit mysterious too! I wonder where she is right now."

Corrin prepared to shrug and eat some sushi but then, he remembered a certain detail that the fake Izana said, earlier in the day, though Zola was certainly unaware of what was truly going on. There was a lake, close to the city. Tanuki, it was called. Was it where Azura was going? After all, she had been seen hanging out by a lake back in Nestra, and she seemed nervous for an earlier reason during the meal. Since she was carrying a odd spear back then, he could only assume that there was something in the lake to give her reason to worry.

Yes, it could just be defense against the Hoshidans, but Azura could easily use her usual naginata to fend those off. And, looking back, that weapon reminded him of that spear that was wielded by the mysterious knight that saved their lives in Cheve… Hm. He never gave that man much thoughts, owing to all his troubles with the war, but now Corrin was wondering if he and Azura weren't in a cooperation of some sort. Either way, with luck, his friend was in the lake, and if he wanted to try to gain some answers out of it, then he'd need to quickly move to reach her.

"I'm going to… take some fresh air. Lord Izana. I'll try to get back in time for the dessert."

"Oh, of course, go at it Corrin boy!" Answered Izana. He didn't seem surprised or displeased by the remark, and even subtly hurried Corrin along with an hand gesture, as if he knew what the Prince was about to do. Well, he likely did, since he could talk to the gods and all. Now, why he didn't bother to mention it… Well, that was a seer thing, no?

"Don't worry, I'll be back. Huh, see you everyone!" He said. "Even you, Takumi!" And with that dramatic pointing, the young man left the room. Camilla observed his prompt departure and pointed at Beruka, who calmly got up and began to walk to follow him.

"Just a small precaution!"

"Of course, milady! Of course! But don't worry about being late! It's more dessert for me, hehe!" He gestured at Beruka using his hand, but she failed to recognize the gesture. If anything, she was a bit insulted at first, before she realized that the wise man probably had a plan for her. Stepping off the room, the young woman put her hands behind her back and trailed behind Corrin. The young man seemed rather hurried, to the point where she needed to walk just a bit faster to keep up with him.

"Excuse me." He said, gesturing to a group of guards. "Could you please tell me where Lake Tanuki is?" The group of guards turned around in confusion. As a royal, Corrin would be well within his right to harshly demand them to speak up immediately, but the young man quickly came up with an excuse. "I heard that it's a good place to take midnight swims at and I'm in a swimming mood!" Beruka smacked herself in the face with her own hand, but luckily, the Izumians fell for it. "Hey, sure! It's up north! There's a little path in the palace that lead to the forest; Just take the beaten path until you're on it! But, huh, sir, not to look overbearing, because I'm not, but shouldn't you be at the dinner?"

"I'm… allergic to what's being served." He said.

"Ohhh, that's terrible! Well, better wash away those allergies with water!" Answered the Izumian, as if sincerely worried. Corrin smiled and gestured, and they walked past each other. Beruka moved to quickly rejoin the prince, looking up at him in confusion. "O-oh, Beruka! Huh…" Corrin's voice grew a bit deeper. "Fancy seeing you her-… No, nevermind." He sighed.

"Are you searching for the Songstress?" She just asked, ignoring his little episode. He looked thankful for that. "Let me assist you in that endeavor."

"W-well. I'm thankful for that, but it shouldn't be too dangerous, right? I've got my hands and my stone if I ever need to." He pointed down at his right pocket, and Beruka could indeed see the stone's glow from that spot. Otherwise though, he wasn't dressed with combat in mind, and his outfit was even a little impractical, featuring a high-collar that'd rival Leo's own and a scarf. By contrast, her own clothing, while a bit more fanciful than she wanted, had short sleeves and no collar, just in case she'd ever run into a fight.

"… Hm, perhaps, but I still want to contribute, if I return to Lady Camilla empty-handed, she'll get in a sour mood." Beruka waited until they were close to the path to continue her words, though most of the guards were seemingly gathered at the event. "And I… care about you." Admitted the young woman, looking at him and even biting her lips just a little. He blushed and scratched his cheek.

"I-I'm glad…" He said, not quite knowing how to respond. The forest outside was made out of bamboo and peaceful: Quite a sight, especially compared to Nohr's crooked vegetation. Corrin, perhaps wishing to get into a subject that wouldn't reduce him to a stuttering red mess, reached out to touch the bamboo. "It's peaceful." He said. "You know, after my return to Nohr. I was sent by Garon to the Ice Tribe and I had to pass by some woods. And, you know, the woods are so…"

"Forlorn. It is the name." She added. "Yes. I went through those quite a few times. They are especially deadly to foreigners. Plenty of unwary ninjas either accidentally get into these or, if somehow caught by the populace, are lowered into them." Corrin looked incredibly shocked at that.

"There's a few Facelesses in there too. I think that they escaped their creator's control? A-anyway. Those woods are crappy, and this forest is nice." He looked down at the green ground. "There no toxic swamp with some bodies in it and no colossal rampaging monsters out to get you. Even the forests are dangerous in Nohr, heh…"

"Yes." She replied. "But it form a line of defense, somewhat."

Some time passed, and they waded deeper into the forest. Corrin looked a bit apprehensive, obviously regretting his decision. He imagined Azura quietly going back to the dinner, having taken the fresh air in another wing of the castle, and being confused at Corrin's absence. Camilla would be embarrassed and the royal family would lack Corrin at a rather important event.

Well, it wasn't like they were doing much besides eating, anyway. A paltry reassurance for the draconic prince though, and he began to contemplate just turning around to quickly head back. Beruka noticed this, and decided to raise her hand to tap him on the shoulder.

"Are you thinking of walking back?" She asked.

"Y-yeah, a bit. I mean, we're close to the lake and there's no sign of Azura, right? Maybe she took a different path. Or we should've asked if some guards saw her on the way out, hum…"

Beruka glanced to the right as he talked, and contemplated his points. It was hard to see footprints on the road because of the darkness (though she imagined that Corrin would see those anyway) and it's true that they could somewhat see the lake. Perhaps they had been wrong? But they did see the mysterious woman by the lake at Nestra. Now, what could… A small noise interrupted the woman's thought, and she looked to the right. Something was moving in the bamboo forest, only a few meters away from them apparently. Corrin heard it too naturally, and turned around, holding out his left arm in a protective manner in front of her. The other hand, he held raised at the darkness, perhaps threatening to turn it into a claw.

Beruka could appreciate the gesture, but something about being treated as a damsel who needed to be protected rubbed her the wrong way. "It might have been a critter." She argued. "This forest must be teeming with life."

"Yeah, I know, but I'm a bit paranoid after everything." Corrin lowered his hand. "I'm going to go check. You do not have weapons on yourself, but I can defend myself if I need to. Don't worry."

Beruka nodded slowly and crouched a little, as if trying to observe better. Corrin looked at his teammate and slowly approached the wood, trying to use his enhanced senses to see if there really was something there, awaiting him. The ambiance was rather tense, even with the wildlife chirping away at the night. The background noise reassured him though, because it meant that whatever was happening wasn't disturbing it. With luck, perhaps Beruka's theory was right? Either way, he remained on the defensive, and slowly waded through the bushes to step into the forest.

Even with the light of the moon and the nearby lake, the ambiance was still rather creepy. Rows and rows of bamboos all aligned together, with those on the right eventually vanishing into the darkness. The good thing was that they were probably too thin for anyone to hide behind though. Still, he treated each bamboo as if a sword could come out from it. Eventually, he focused so much that the sound of the wildlife vanished from his mind, and he only focused on the sounds that he was currently making, meaning that he heard nothing apart from a slight creaking noise every so and then.

After a few seconds, something darted out of the shadow and Corrin leapt with more speed than an arrow, easily catching the intruder. The first thing he noticed is that the intruder was tiny, to the point where he had no problems holding it in the palms of his hands. The second thing is that it was furry, and even soft outright. The third thing is that it squealed once it got caught within his grasp, though he softened it when he noticed its true nature and even moved a finger to try to pet the squirrel in the head, chuckling lightly even as it bite into its fingers, though his skin was too thick for the squirrel's fearsome teeth to penetrate.

"Hey, look!" He walked with none of the seriousness that he displayed so far and held up the squirrel, though he was making sure not to do it in a way that would cause it further harm. "I've caught a ninja!"

Beruka immediately pointed at him, and Corrin heard the sound of something rapidly approaching him. Letting go of the squirrel, he wheeled around just in time to see that human footprints had been embedded in the soil, and whatever invisible being was making them was probably right in front of him going by those. Instinctively, he transformed part of his head, growing some armor and even antlers on it. Even against the might of a steel sword wielded by preternatural strength, the armor held out well. So well, in fact, that when the sword struck him in the head, it broke in two. The impact still sent the young man on his backside, but that was also due to his surprise. The young man fell, and Beruka was the next one to make her move, leaping above the Prince with two daggers in hands. She slammed into something, and then proceeded to ruthlessly stab that something until it expired, doing so fast enough to kill the target before it could get back up, though the effort of having to do so caused her to lean forward and sigh.

Her knives were covered in water, and she was now standing above a corpse. Going by the design of the armor, it belonged to a… Chevois combatant? Luckily, she had aimed for his exposed face. Her daggers, otherwise, would have failed to penetrate the thick hide offered by the armor.

Getting up, Beruka approached Corrin and helped him up to his feet. He looked down at the corpse, in shock, and they both proceeded to glance at one another.

"The… the invisible soldiers!" He yelled, coming up to the obvious conclusion. "What could they be doing here?" Corrin also glanced at the daggers, but he didn't care to interrogate her on them. They had some more pressing matters to attend to, after all. Like the fact that the invisible soldier likely wasn't alone, and more of them could be approaching at this very moment, surrounding the Nohrian duo and casting them in a pretty dangerous position.

"We should run back to the party." He said. "It could be a good occasion to show the Hoshidans and the others about those invisible soldiers, after all!"

"You'd barge into the hall and scream about unseen zombies at the bamboo forest, Corrin?" She answered. "They may not believe you. Come. I know who we could try to find. Use your enhanced senses to try and detect enemies coming at us. They are hard to kill but they do have a threshold. If you have to fight them, quickly destroy the head. This should stop them efficiently. Alternatively, destroy the legs, and allow me to finish them off."

"A-alright then. Let's find the knight and Azura." He said. "And I'll use your strategy, but please, stick close to me!"

"I will. Go!"

They began to run across the forest, towards the lake. It seemed that no soldiers were roaming the wood, or they were simply too slow or too far away from Corrin to deem them a worthy threat. The background noise of the forest life was gone by now, replaced by the sound of steel clashing and, eventually, an harmonious and familiar melody.

"_You are the ocean's grey waves…" _

"It's Azura! Azura's song! She…" Corrin barely managed to stop his course in time, and nearly crashed against two more soldiers. Their invisibility had faded thanks to some mysterious magic (caused, without a doubt, by the song), and while they flickered in and out of sight at time, it was still easy to identify them now. Two former soldiers of Nohr were staring back at them, lit up by a purple aura. After some brief surprise, Corrin decided to brush past them by running in a straight line, slamming into the two soldiers and sending both grown men flying several meters high into the sky. The fearsome undead soldiers, temporarily made mere ragdolls, crashed into the ground and didn't get back up. Going by the angles of their limbs, they wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, and had it not been for their own toughness, they would've outright died perhaps.

Beruka glanced at the dragon while he ran ahead, and the strength that he used to casually slap away those soldiers saw some use again when he effortlessly broke through a rather thick bamboo tree, leaping his way into a field that lead into the lake itself. His powerful hearing made it easy for him to discern the sound of both noises, though Azura had stopped singing for now, and was currently clashing with a large armored zombie. While he towered over her by about several feet, the undead was the loser of the current brawl, and Azura quickly pushed him back before spinning her naginata to lop his head off. Another soldier, unfazed by the fate of its commander, approached her from behind, intending to try and stab her in the back, but Corrin came in with a swift kick, tearing the soldier's leg in half almost casually. Beruka ran in and stabbed the being in the head, ensuring its immediate demise… Though to be sure, she repeated the motion about four more times.

"Thank you, Corrin." Said the songstress, who had already turned to face her opponent before he made his entrance. However, her little smile quickly made way for her usual poker-face. "But what are you doing here? You shouldn't…" She gasped when she saw Beruka. "Are more Nohrians here?"

"If there are, then it would be good news for us." The shadow of a man in rather impressive armor rejoined the trio before Corrin and Beruka could speak up. It was the knight from Cheve, still dressed in his familiar yet odd armor. In one hand, he held that mysterious spear that he wielded back then, but there was another similar spear, with the same fire, strapped to his back. "Milady, the… lake appears to be particularly deep within this lake. I fear that there will be a lot of them to deal with."

Corrin's eyes widened a little. The voice was deeper and muffled, to the point of almost sounding monstrous, but he almost recognized it, just as he recognized the way the knight pointed at him. "I assure you that it would be in your interest to stop gazing, my friend." He said, with authority in his voice. But the Prince still struggled to speak up, surprised as he was with the voice. So it fell to Beruka to explain.

"We're the only Nohrians here. What portal are you talking about? What are you doing, Azura?" She hissed. "No. Nevermind. We'll send those undead back first."

"Correct. Here, grab this." The knight reached into his back and pulled out a rather sizable axe. He tossed it at Beruka, who effortlessly caught it. "You came equipped, but those daggers won't do you much good given the numbers."

"Corrin, do you have Yato with you?" Said Azura, receiving the unusual lance from the knight. After realizing it on her own, the knight quickly loaned a steel sword to the young man, snapping him out of his funk.

"It may not be a sword of legend, but it will do its work just fine." He promised. He did it right on time, too, for a bunch of undeads began to reach the shores of the lake. Some of them moved decently quickly, others just shambled along and one, at least, switched between them, eerily going between bouts of agility before shambling along. Beruka twirled her axe, regretting that she didn't get herself her armor for the upcoming fight.

"What is the win condition?"

"We'll need to go underwater." Said the Knight. "And stab the portal with it. It will close it and whatever force empower those undead beings will be cut off."

"I see…" She'd ask where the portal lead to, but they had bigger problems to deal with. "I assume that you'll be taking care of that."

"I could do it." Promised Corrin. "I can get in underwater fast! We'll just need to cut down a few of these beings first to make our way!"

"Fine. Azura, Corrin, cut them down. We'll finish off the stragglers. Go for the head or legs but don't waste more than five seconds on them!"

Corrin smiled in spite of the circumstances and hurriedly leapt towards the mysterious beings, slamming into one with his shoulder. The shock hurled it at a fellow soldier, toppling them both. Carrying on with his momentum, the prince leapt across the air and slammed into them with his two feet, carving a small crater and swiftly ending their unlives. A third soldier, one of the faster ones, ran at him but he merely morphed his arm into a long black claw (though the process tore the fabric on his arm) and he stabbed the soldier in the chest with it, before extending his arm to slam the soldier into a tree.

Not yet done, Corrin swung his stretched draconic arm, cleanly cutting five more invaders to pieces with an elaborate horizontal swing. Transforming his arm back, he then made another bound and reached a soldier who was heading for the woods, cutting his head off with his steel sword. He then grabbed the headless body by the arm and swung it at two nearby hostiles, stunning them long enough to swiftly decapitate them as well with his sword. Not done with his unusual weapon, he threw the headless body at a larger group of undead, who actually caught it on time. However, his own subsequent charge proved too much, and once more, he felled them all in a single charge, partly transforming his head to do so.

Beruka watched, a bit stunned, and pondered on just how much he held back against normal opponents. She soon stopped gawking though, and instead got to work on finishing off the soldiers that were still twitching after either Corrin or Azura were done with them. She considered how they'd explain the presence of so many corpses on Izumo, but after about seven seconds, it appeared that the corpses broke down into… water. Well, it could be less or more, but there wasn't exactly time to act.

Azura and Corrin were doing most of the legwork. Corrin's draconic abilities and surprising ruthlessness allowed him to get a greater bodycount, but Azura moved with grace and speed, removing heads or severing legs with great efficiency. Beruka couldn't even see her move at times, and she couldn't help but feel a bit of envy over the songstress's martial prowess and raw power. It spoke of her performance that the heavily armored and armed knight was doing the cleanup for _her, _his horse sometimes trampling the foes that he couldn't reach with his long spear. A lot of zombies were dying, but yet she could always see more approaching whenever she looked at the lake. They weren't getting overwhelmed yet, but the grimace on Azura's face indicated that she didn't except so many of the zombies to show up.

"Why are so many of them coming out of the lake? This doesn't make sense!" She said, cutting down a soldier by slashing his chest and then quickly twirling her weapon to cut his head off as well. "There were far less of them last time."

"I'm as confused as you are. We're going to need to make the dive sooner or later." The knight said. "Lord Corrin, quick, grasp one of these spears! You're the strongest of us, so you could survive a dive!"

"Alright!" Corrin, who had probably slain about dozen of soldiers by now, held his hand out, as if being offered a weapon. The knight grabbed his own spear and tossed it into the air. The zombies, if they could move quickly, were either too stupid or too slow to try to intercept it, and Corrin prepared to grasp the weapon… only for a blur to _explode _out of the lake, throwing a ton of water and catching all the living warriors by surprise. With swiftness that not even the dragon prince could match, the blur caught the spear mid-air and landed on the ground easily, kicking a crater underneath.

The invaders stopped their advance, and the figure rose slowly. It was tall and covered by a long black coat with a hood. A simple disguise, but oddly effective. So effective in fact that it was impossible to tell who or even what was within it. The figure had black gloves and black shoes, but otherwise, the light of the moon appeared to be fended off by some void in his hood, preventing the figure's identity from being revealed. Azura and Corrin's eyes widened though.

The figure cackled and wagged a finger, before holding up the spear. Whatever unknown metal the spear was made out of easily fell prey to the being's supernatural strength, and it snapped in half. The fire didn't quite fade out though. Both those sights were shocking, at least.

"What kind of undead is that? None of them seemed to be able to grasp what they were doing." Muttered the knight.

"It's the hooded man." Spoke Azura, almost scared. "He's the one who…" Before she could finish her sentence, Corrin immediately attacked the figure with his sword, clashing with such violence that the subsequent shockwaves knocked over a few of the soldiers. Yelling in a strangely guttural manner, the young man swung his sword multiple times over with great speed and strength, sending out more shockwaves with each hit. His adversary, remaining composed in the face of such power, managed to effortlessly parry each strike, deploying at least a similar level of strength and speed in answer.

Corrin raised his sword high above his head and yelled some more before being cut off when the hooded figure swiftly kicked him in the stomach. The young man crossed quite a long distance and tumbled a few more meters backwards before he got up. A blow of that strength would've killed a man outright but he seemed to be angrier than anything at being struck.

"Corrin! Keep your calm!" Said Beruka. "You can't beat him if you flail like that!" He stared at her in answer, his pupils slit and his teeth sharper than before.

"He killed mom! I can't just keep my calm!" He snapped. In the background, the figure slowly made its way towards Azura, who held out her spear defensively and was soon joined by the knight in her endeavor. The being laughed a little and ran up, turning into a blur and slamming into the knight. Both the rider and the horse, both clad in armor and more than ready for a shock, went flying at the shock, and the elite invader attacked Azura with a whirlwind of attacks, immediately putting her on the defensive. Right when she looked like she was about to give out though, he stopped his assault and took two steps back (though given his speed, he may as well have moved kilometers away). Then, he held out his sword, a katana that had been snapped in half by the sheer pressure of his swings.

Not bothered at all by this, the man laughed a little and moved to the back a little to dodge a sudden charge from Corrin. He then spun the ruined katana in his hand and stabbed the jagged sword straight into the young prince's back. It easily tore through the fabric, but the katana failed to really pierce his skin even with the level of strength that its owner wielded. It was still a nasty shock though, and Corrin bended over in shock. As a result, the hooded entity raised its hand, seemingly preparing to use his fingers to impale Corrin.

"No!" With an uncharacteristic cry, Beruka moved into combat, and successfully interrupted the figure's attack by forcing it to grasp the axe instead. Then, he raised his other fist and clenched it, preparing to give his foe a devastating blow… that thankfully never came. The knight, having recovered, stabbed into his foe with a spear but the hooded being managed to block it at the last second with his fist. The knight pushed forward with all his might, but the common foe managed to easily hold his ground, and even moved to seemingly snap their weapons in half.

However, he didn't bank on Azura running it and foregoing her act as a fragile lady. With great speed, the blue-haired lady slammed her shoulder straight into the man, and since he was distracted by both Beruka and the knight, he was sent flying several feet away, even cutting a poor undead in half in his wake.

"T-thank you." Said Beruka, sighing heavily. However, she immediately focused on Corrin first and foremost, attempting to try to tend to Corrin. Seemingly superhuman toughness or not, having a sword slammed into his guts by some sort of nigh-unstoppable specter must've hurt. "Corrin, are you…"

"I'm fine." He said, recovering finally. He had the equivalent of a bruise on his stomach, almost to her surprise. "I'll handle that bastard!"

"Corrin." Said Beruka. "He's handling us all. We will need to work as a group to defeat him."

"The young lady is right." Spoke the knight. "Corrin, your anger is understandable but we cannot afford to engage the enemy without a strategy!"

Corrin looked at each and every single one of them and his hands quivered, forcing Beruka to grab them in an attempt to calm him down. It worked, slightly, and she sighed in relief… before the hooded man spoke up, walking back from his landing spot with ease, almost as if the impact of Azura's slam was more comparable to a light shove.

"_Should've stabbed him with the spear._" She bitterly thought, eyeing Azura.

"Ah, Corrin!" Said the figure, to everyone's surprise. "You are a grown man now! You were untainted by war earlier…" He held out his hand. "But I can see it in your movements. You're a killer now, my boy! You've taken lives, and you've seen sights that will torment you well into old age! Come! One like you should not be hiding behind the skirt of the women around him!" Whatever void masked his face dispelled itself a little, as if on cue, and silver moonlight revealed that the figure had a nasty grin. "Do you want them to die like your mother?"

Corrin let go of Beruka's hand and immediately ran into the figure, holding out his stone to intend to transform immediately. In his wrath though, his mind grew unfocused, and the figure was on him in the span of a second, slamming him in the face with his fist. The glowy stone that Corrin used to transform flew out of his hand and right into the figure's own as the young man painfully fell to the ground. He moved to get up in spite of the considerable shock that he received but, alas, the man just planted a foot on his torso and kept him steady.

"It pains me to do this." The figure continued. He had a deep voice, and a noticeably… accent to it. Hoshidan. "I would very much like to fight you at your full power. But there is mayhem to be done!"

The being snapped his fingers, and the undead reactivated all around the little group, shambling towards them. Beruka held out her axe, but there were far too many of them to handle, and with the hooded man being nearby, even Azura would be overwhelmed!

"Let a wailing chorus of soul announce his song to the world! Let the innocent land be the site of a slaughter like none other before! May future generations use blood and tears to describe what will happen tonight! And let his will be carved into the flesh of the innocent!" The madman raised his hands high above his head. "We are reborn!"

The undead shambled closer and closer…

…

**A/N**: A cliffhanger? Yes! Haha! Well, it's a prequel after all, but I figure I could still get away with one!

This is the part of the new content I was talking about. A brawl with Sumeragi and the zombie boys. It should be over by the next chapter. I hope you're enjoying it!

Love you guys, please leave reviews, I love them!

See ya!


	27. A return from the dead

Calling the current situation "unpleasant" would be a very polite way to put it.

Several undead soldiers were surrounding them, and slowly approaching the three fighters that stood between them and civilization. The strongest of them was currently pinned underneath the foot of their leader, who was both intelligent and blessed with enough raw might to take out everyone at once even without the support of his army, and in his hand, he held perhaps the only item that could be used to stop him, and he was doing his very best to break it.

The only reprieve was that his superior strength apparently met its match with the odd material in the stone. But even then, it'd certainly be outliving them. Azura seemed to realize this first, and looked at her teammates. Hastily, she began to sing her song, looking down on concern at Corrin. However, the hooded being quickly identified the song as the greater threat, and, since the prince couldn't use either of his greatest weapons, discarded him to run at Azura instead.

Cut off mid-song, Azura barely raised her weapon in time to block the attack, but ended up thrown off her feet regardless. As for the knight and Beruka, the hooded man greeted them with a backhand with each fists, easily tossing them away as well. With most of his enemies now prone, and him on his fist, the hooded being simply… scoffed, and walked up to one of his soldiers, a Hoshidan one. He held his hand out, and the zombie soldier politely handed him his Silver Katana. The light of the moon reflected upon the blade as the hooded man took a few swings, smiling in satisfaction when the blade's mere movement managed to shear off quite a bit of grass.

Beruka crawled towards Corrin, and held him up. Near her, the knight grunted but got up as well, grabbing the discarded spear. Azura also got up and began to quickly head towards them, casting a fearful look towards the leader of the invasion. When he began to walk, she gasped in fear, but he was merely advancing towards a Nohrian soldier. Upon reaching the undead, he just ripped the weapon off his hands, though the tug was done in such a way that the victim's hands departed along with his blade. This bought them some time, since the hooded being politely waited for the hands to melt into a puddle before he approached the group.

Corrin had a nasty bruise on his face, and she could see a liquid footmark on his shirt. In spite of all of this though, he looked as determined as ever, getting back unto his feet and past the little wall of defense that his allies decided to erect.

"Young man. If you succumb to your anger, you will not prevail." Warned the mysterious Nohrian. In answer, Corrin wiped some of the blood leaking down from his mouth and cast a look.

"But I can't… I can't just ignore him after everything he did. He took my mom." He complained. "How can I remain calm?"

"Think of the stakes that he represent. If he manage to break past us, he'll do quite some damage." She thought of the damage that the man could do. If he directly broke into the hall, he'd probably be able to easily take the royals by surprise and with his weapon, speed and power… "I know that this put more pressure on you, perhaps, but there's no other ways to say it. Focus on what he will do if we fail. Fight for the sake of the royal family. Think not of the past, but of the present and future that you're preserving." She said. Selena would've been surprised at that little speech if she were here.

… She missed Selena, odd as it was. She felt like the woman would've been able to keep up with the hooded figure, surprising as it was. But the redhead wasn't present, so speculating was useless for now.

Corrin seemed to realize that Beruka's little speech held truth and sighed reluctantly. "I… I'll try, but he's the reason everything went to hell in the first place…"

"You will get your revenge, but wait until he's properly neutralized." She promised. A fat chance for sure: He still held his sword, and Corrin's dracostone. The figure eventually stopped walking, stopping a few feet away from the group. He had two swords in his right hand, and threw one right at Corrin, with the young man catching it in flight.

"A fight between men is one that is settled honorably. Fight me directly, Corrin! It's the only way you'll get your stone back!"

"No." Whispered Beruka. "He's going to kill him."

"Not much we can do, I'm afraid." Said the knight. "He's giving us a way to even things out. Beside… Azura, could you sing Corrin your song to revitalize him?"

The hooded man laughed at the mysterious figure's statement. "How very Nohrian of you! But don't worry, you won't be gawking helplessly!" He said. "Sing your song, princess! And then stop my soldiers before they reach the town!"

"No!" Corrin raised his weapon at the mysterious man. "You can't do this! You… you can only do this if you beat me at the duel!" He declared.

"Ah, terms! I like those! But I cannot abide by your rules. I do have a task." The man grinned in a beastly manner. "To be honest, you should all be dead by now… But even His will can renege my bloodlust! I would take you all at once if I could!" The man took a Hoshidan fighting stance. "But you're all too weak! I only have interest in Corrin. The rabble will concern itself with the other rabble, as it always has!"

The soldiers began to walk again, ignoring the living, this time, to head towards Izumo. Seeing the urgency, Azura put her hand on Corrin's shoulder and sang her song, somewhat fixing his injury. His body briefly glowed blue, and, aware of the short duration of the song, he only threw Beruka and company an apologetic look before he swung into battle.

He tried to remain composed in his movements though, and welcomed the hooded figure's unhinged attacks with as much grace as he could, squeezing all the power he had in his body to match the infernal speed and power wielded by his foe. They spread all around the battlefield quickly, cutting down the undead soldiers that stood in their way and moving too fast for the others to follow.

The soldiers were slow, but already too many of them remained. They ignored the living for now, or simply didn't deem them threats. After all, more and more were pouring out of the lake, to the point where, if things ever got any worse, they'd be able to form an actual army to drown out the fighters gathered at Izumo, and if the royals were to fall, then she doubted that there would be much to stop the undead from rampaging around Dreiz, especially if they could somehow add them to their numbers. A likely theory, since the invaders were dressed in the uniform of various other countries.

Beruka could simply run to Izana and the others and warn them, but whenever Corrin and his adversary appeared, if only for a second, she could see a new wound on his body. He was fighting quite mightily, of course, and she could see that the hooded invader had some damage on his body, but he'd die long before rescue could come. She'd need to run all the way over, convince the royals to leave the dinner and run to the lake under the pretense of an attack (even without the mention of undead beings, they'd perhaps ask questions about just who would launch an attack on a neutral country), overwhelm the monsters on their way and finally reach Corrin. He'd have lost the fight long before that.

Oh, and, well, she was quite certain that a grim fate also awaited her two teammates if they were left alone.

"I… I can try to make us win." Said Azura. "He's distracted, if I sing my song at the right time, I could paralyze him and Corrin could remove his head easily."

"Then do it." Said Beruka.

"He's interrupted me before, and…"

"Corrin will hold him back, and either way, he's losing!" Hissed Beruka. "Hurry up with your song! We can't hesitate!"

Azura looked down at Beruka and the knight as they both prepared themselves to shield the young woman if they ever needed.

"_You are the ocean's gray waves…"_

"The song!" Bemoaned the hooded man. Instantly, the soldiers, after rising from their trance, all turned around to head for the little trio. Their leader attempted to shake off Corrin, perhaps to better try and tackle Azura, but Corrin decided to try to buy her some valuable time and stood between them as a barrier, blocking the blows throw his way for a little while.

"_Destined to seek life beyond the shore's…"_

Azura took her axe and, in a bold move, threw it away, aiming with enough precision to send it past the soldiers without hitting them. The knight prepared to say something, but then quickly had to intercept a charging ninja with his spear, stabbing the soldier through the face. Eerily, that particular soldier had the energy to try to swing aimlessly a few times before Beruka ended his life using her dagger.

The strongest of the undead eventually managed to throw Corrin away, sending him tumbling away with a mighty sweep of his arm, and he ran straight at the other blue-haired noble, sending his men flying in the wake of his mad race. His laughing behavior was completely gone, being replaced by something akin to panic, and he raised his sword to attempt to bring it down on her head. Beruka leapt at him with her dagger and managed to stab him in the chest but he ignored it, owing to his undead nature. The mysterious knight swung his own sword in an attempt to help his companion, but the mighty Silver Katana cleaved straight through it and was only barely stopped by Azura, who struggled to continue the verses.

"_Yet the waters ever change, flowing like time!"_

"STOP THIS SONG AT ONCE, WITCH!" The desperate man lifted his sword, and using his knee, effortlessly pushed Beruka into her ally, causing them both to topple. Since he was busy on trying to break through Azura's defense, the knee was light, but Beruka still clutched her chest. At least a few bones were broken by now. It was like someone dumped a rock on top of her chest, and then freed her by smashing straight through said rock using a warhammer. And her back wasn't really in a great state either, owing to her sudden encounter with some thick metal.

However, a combination of Nohrian discipline, pride and a stubborn desire not to be ever put in a position of weakness had Beruka on her feet quickly, though she was too unsteady on her feet to help, and the Knight was the one who had troubles getting up. Thankfully, the sound of steel making contact with (wet) flesh resonated in the air, as Beruka's thrown axe from earlier completed its looping journey and crashed into the man's back, causing him to stumble forward in pain and surprise.

The assassin made a usually wild smirk, proud at her little gambit. "Screw you." She spat, as Azura took the opportunity to complete her song.

"_The path is yours to climb!"_

She stabbed the man directly with her spear, aiming for the head, but he moved on time to get grazed in the shoulder, with the combined shock driving him to let go of the stone and the silver katana that he wielded. Unfazed by his wound and the purple flame raging atop it, he moved his left fist to try to hit her, but froze all of a sudden, his purple aura making way for a white one.

"What the?!" He managed to stammer out before Corrin's steel sword protruded out of his torso all of a sudden, if only because he barely managed to move out of the way again. The rest of his troops were less lucky, having been frozen in place by the song. Noticing that he had missed, Corrin pulled his sword backward to prepare to decapitate the leader of the horde, but in a frightening display of strength, the swordsman broke out of whatever trance he was in and turned around to punch the sword, shattering it to nothing. Forgetting Azura, perhaps out of sheer rage, he grabbed a very surprised prince by the throat and leapt directly into the lake itself.

With a cry of "Corrin!", Azura nearly leapt after them, but stopped before she could start running and collapsed to the ground, letting go of the spear and coughing harshly. "We… we can't leave him alone with that madman!" She moved to grab her spear, intending to carry on in spite of her surprising state, but Beruka took of a firm hold of both it and Corrin's stone. The man would obviously sink, or at least would be heavily restricted in his swimming, and Azura was too weak at the moment, so Beruka deemed that she was the one who needed to go swimming to retrieve Corrin, even as the slightest movement felt like someone was starting a fire inside of the body.

Of course, she'd be diving into an intense underwater battle and, likely, a bunch of undead warriors but she wanted to make sure that the Nohrian prince would not die at the hands of some walking corpses. With naught but a little sigh, the young woman leapt in and dove in, breaking past the water. The light of the moon shone upon the lake, but there initially was mostly darkness. It was as expected though. What was unexpected was the "fire" on top of the spear growing much larger all of a sudden, almost to the point where it became a torch capable of lighting up the entire lake and even its floor.

With this reveal came another: There was, indeed, a lot of dead bodies swimming up the lake, hailing straight out of a portal. Beruka wished that she could describe it, but she could only gleam that it was… round. The colors weren't like anything that she could identify, and the few gleams of whatever hellish world send them in hurt her head. Making her way past all those bodies to stab a portal, of all things, was already hard enough, but Beruka was ready to waste her air supply on someone else.

Turning her gaze away from the portal, because merely seeing it made her feel like her eyes were being boiled, Beruka glanced at the only two people who were still moving underwater. That damn hooded figure and Corrin, with the latter putting up a surprisingly even fight against the former now, either because he had taken wounds or because the prince was channeling his anger correctly. Regardless of that, Corrin was now deflecting the blows thrown at him and a few of them managed to stagger and push back the figure.

Of course, even then, being even meant that the prince took a few blows as well, and Beruka winced whenever one landed. The leader of the invasion still hit with devastating power, and the shockwave of his punches were felt across the entire lake, sending shudders down the retainer's spine, though she'd also describe the experience as having a firm hand actually grab her backbone to try to shatter it. And Corrin was taking all of these punches, and dishing out some of his own, lacking none of his usual hesitation.

The retainer began to swim at the two brawlers, while the undead soldiers, frozen by the spell, slowly re-obtained their ability to move. Though there were also the soldiers directly pouring out of the portal itself, and the song obviously failed to reach their ears. Unlike the more sluggish first wave, those particular soldiers were dressed in the elite clothing of Nohr and Hoshido, and swam quite quickly, ignoring Beruka and threatening to quickly breach the surface. A few, however, eventually deviated from their path and gave chase, under the correct assumption that she shouldn't be ignored. With their speed and strength, she gave herself about eight seconds before she joined their ranks.

So, she kept swimming, and held her spear out. She had to get in a battle between superhumans and stab one of the participants with a spear, while hoping that he wouldn't dodge or put his rival in her path. If she failed, then she was screwed, because the other would catch up to her in seconds and even under the optimal conditions that she was definitely not in, she would easily be swarmed by them. Hopeless odds for anyone else, but the assassin refused to let it get to her and angled her spear forward. It seemed to almost accelerate upon being pointed at something, quickly moving with enough speed to actually surprise its owner and force her to grab unto the weapon with all the might that she could muster. Her arm felt like it was about to be ripped off from her body, but as usual with her, she just took that pain, shoved it somewhere and pressed on with her task.

Corrin noticed her approach and wordlessly cooperated, grabbing the hooded being by the neck and directly slugging him across the cheek. This stunned the being just long enough for him to shape his hand into something akin to a draconic limb, and directly move to grab him using his fingers. Even weakened, the hooded man proceeded to put forth enough raw power to start freeing himself, but it was a little too late. Coming in like death itself, Beruka directly stabbed him in the chest, and Corrin let go of at the exact right moment.

He screamed, the sound somehow being heard underwater, and she could vaguely see his mouth lit up with blue fire, partly revealing a beard that had been somewhat unseen beforehand. What he looked like under the cloak would forever remain a mystery though: The spear's fire incinerated him from the inside, unaffected by its location, and in less than a second, the man was reduced to cinders by the inner fire, ensuring that he wouldn't come back for good. After all, how could a pile of ash wield a sword?

Beruka refused to let her mind dwell on the mysterious man's demise and approached Corrin, pulling out his stone and shoving it in his hand. He grabbed it, understanding the menace, and then wrapped a hand around her back. Out of instinct, she grabbed him and held on as hard as he can, aware that she'd be at ground zero of the transformation. In a second, before the invaders could reach them, flesh shifted to scale and the water exploded around Corrin and Beruka as the former took off like a missile. The young woman grit her teeth and held unto the spear as if her life depended on it, practically embedding the weapon in her palm as Corrin flew towards the sky.

They emerged above the lake in a most explosive manner, and Corrin remained there for about five seconds, floating along with the water particles, the moonlight shining upon him to better reveal his transformed self. Beruka, who was somehow "tied" to the scales by some blue liquid, quickly got into his position and climbed on his back, pointing the spear downward.

"You need to aim for the portal!" She screamed. Corrin understood, and dove right back in. Beruka aimed her spear, and attempted to think of the situation as if she were riding Altena and trying to quickly kill an enemy with a powerful spear thrust, instead of riding Corrin's draconic form to spear a undead-spewing underwater portal and prevent an invasion from the dead legion.

Corrin dove underwater, easily tearing through the soldiers, though he seemingly tried not to get hit by them to prevent his teammate from being hit in the rather confusing brawl. Even when holding back though, he was still easily tearing through the soldiers, to the point where even with their overwhelming numbers, they couldn't do much to stop him. From time to time, Beruka would stab the closest soldier, incinerating them, but she kept her objective on the one target that required being stabbed, which she was fast-approaching. She wondered how she could stab something like a portal, but perhaps its magic would just trigger? She could already feel the spear naturally shift in her hand, as if it was getting ready to deliver the finishing blow.

The assassin focused on holding the spear, and refused to even think about her dwindling air supply, or the fact that she could really only hold unto both the spear and the dragon and hope for the best. Corrin finally reached the portal, stopping short of it, and she thrusted her spear, praying that it wouldn't simply pass through the other dimension or be caught by one of the emerging undead.

Luckily, she felt the tip of the weapon make contact with… something as she stabbed the object, and it very quickly shrunk, slicing an emerging soldier in half. Then, a thousand lights escaped from it, and Corrin barely managed to move his draconic body in front of her before it violently blew up. The young dragon was violently thrown back, and so was the woman that he shielded, but the bizarre soldiers weren't as lucky, and the blast outright vaporized them, leaving absolutely nothing behind. It carried both Beruka and Corrin up above before throwing them back. Too exhausted by the fight until now, the retainer let go of both the spear and Corrin, being swept aside helplessly by the waves, being helpless to do anything with the amount of strength that she still had left in her.

Luckily, the waves chose not to carry her into a rock or deeper into the lake, where she'd surely drown, but straight into the shore. Less luckily, they still decided to almost slam her into the sand, though at least her impact was dampened slightly. The waves continued to rage for a short while before a grunting Beruka slowly got back on her feet, even when her body was heavily protesting against twitching even a single finger. And this time, she failed to gather the stamina to carry on, falling unto her back again. This encouraged her to take a little breather, but she stilled peered nervously at the lake, perhaps expecting an undead invader to emerge out of the water with a triumphant grin. Or for Corrin to be the one to do so, since the young man was the one who truly took the impact of a blast that managed to utterly pulverize their foes.

Her reignited determination and some moment to gather her strength helped her get up, and Beruka began to walk across the shore. It was cold, there were no sounds coming out of the forest and the entire craziness of the situation caused an eerie feeling to settle in.

"Lord Corrin?" She called out, rather weakly, before spitting some water, causing her to cough. "Lord Corrin? Corrin!"

No answer yet. Before she could dive underwater in an attempt to try to look for him though, Beruka was surprised to see a monstrous figure come out of the water, and instinctively reached for the spot where her axe would be. Unfortunately she was still in her dirty regular clothes instead of her armor, and only reached out for empty air. Reaching out for her hidden daggers, she grimaced when she realized that they had been knocked away as well. Unsurprising, given the recent shock.

However, her weapon dilemma solved itself soon enough when the figure crawled into the moonlight, revealing itself to be a half-transformed Corrin, slowly coming off his draconic transformation. Thanks to a convenient spell perhaps, his clothes were still whole after the transformation and his draconic features were slowly receding back, though he was using his transformed arms to try to crawl back to shore. He winced painfully with each crawl, but was still alive and relatively well in spite of the explosion.

Beruka took the news in and began to run towards him. "Corrin!" She said, before falling forward into the sand, out of exhaustion again. This time though, Beruka's determination prevailed and she ran ahead to grab him by the shoulder and pull him into the shore, out of the water's reach. Then, she simply sat down with him, as his arms receded into a human shape.

They said nothing for a little while, breathing raggedly and quietly looking back on the events that just happened. Then, Beruka turned towards a slumped prince. From what the moon could reveal, he had taken some damage from the blast.

"W-what just happened?" He asked, eyes wide. She slowly shook her head and he groaned. "Well they should be done by now… my body ache everywhere though." The prince groaned. "I don't think I'm going to be enjoying that dessert back at the palace."

Beruka looked down at Corrin and approached him. He glanced at her, in surprise, and then froze up when she embraced him, putting both hands behind his back and her head over his shoulder. Once he got past the surprise though, the prince embraced her back in silence. They remained in that pose for several seconds before she pulled back slightly. "I was worried for you." She admitted. "This was meant to communicate my gratefulness over your continued survival."

"I'm glad about my continuous survival." He blurted out. Then, realizing what he said, he shook his head, prepared to say something else but then just kind of fell to the floor again. Beruka awkwardly grabbed the back of his head, almost cradling him, and they both slowly contemplated what had just happened.

"… Mom's avenged." Contemplated Corrin, shifting briefly in his spot. "And everyone out there is safe now." He added, after a few seconds.

"… How does it feel?" He didn't answer, and just looked up at her in curiosity. "To have avenged your mother?"

He didn't answer her question at first, but she didn't press on, trusting that he just needed time. "Well… I never thought that I'd see that man again, but now that we've killed him, and now that I'm sure he's dead, I'm… good, honestly. In stories, they'd always tell us that vengeance will only lead to feeling empty, but I'm very satisfied." He continued. "This bastard." He emphasized the word a little. "… Without him, mom and all those innocents would be alive, the barrier would still be up and there probably wouldn't be a war. This bastard is responsible for everything that happened."

Beruka glanced at the lake. Obviously, there had to be some higher power at play here, did it not? There was something creating the portal, and the invaders were seemingly plucked from existing armies. It could be Iago's magic at work, but the warlock, for all his negative qualities, wasn't stupid enough to risk launching an attack on Izumo and also wouldn't willingly endanger the children of Garon. And if he could make those dead legions spring forth out of portal, Hoshido would be dealing with a different kind of war, it just couldn't be him.

Beruka absent-mindedly began to stroke Corrin's forehead, but he didn't seems to mind. "… I'm tired." He admitted. "I was supposed to take the day off…" He half-joked, accompanying his sentence with a light-hearted chuckle. "I guess that the universe has a knack for proving me wrong."

The assassin took her time answering him, and opted to switch topics entirely. "Corrin, while we are away from the others, I would like to say something to you."

"I shall join the King's shadows." Easy to say, right? But somehow she struggled with that. Beruka felt like she was coming down from a high, and did feel like she wanted to say words to Corrin, but she didn't know what exactly.

"I…" She said, slowly getting closer to Corrin. He hanged unto her lips, his eyes wide and unblinking even in his tired state, and Beruka slowly began to get her bearing of what she meant to say. Still holding his head between her hands, she moved in a bit closer, to the point where their noses nearly met, and prepared to speak her next lines. In a manner similar to those books that Selena read in secret though, a voice sprung out from the darkness, causing her to back off in fright. The young dragon actually yelped in surprise at the voice and quickly got on his feet, perhaps thinking that a bunch of ninjas were about to jump on him.

Instead, out of the woods, Azura emerged, accompanied by that mysterious vagrant knight from earlier. She had her arm wrapped around his shoulder, and he seemed to be holding her up. Out of everyone involved, he was seemingly the only one capable of still walking on his two feet comfortably, a feat for one clad in such heavy armor, though that fact also explained him being well-off compared to the others, perhaps.

However, Azura sprung towards the duo when she noticed that Corrin and Beruka were alive, smiling happily at them.

The songstress met a most undignified fate owing to her exhaustion though, and slipped while running, causing her to nearly faceplant on the ground. The dragon prince, having recovered part of his stamina during his little discussion with Beruka, reacted in due time and, using some excellent reflexes, managed to catch her on time, reaching his friend before she could plant her face into the ground. He smiled a little, glad that he made it on time, and then helped her up.

"Azura!" He said, while looking backward as Beruka made her way. While he was busy with talking, the assassin glanced at the princess and folded her arms with an unamused glare. She had ruined the moment, and the high that allowed her to temporarily break past and nearly say those particular words to Corrin had faded off. If she ever wanted to build up the "oomph" to talk with him, she'd need to fling herself into reckless danger with him again.

Not that it would be hard given the circumstances, but it still annoyed her.

"You're alive." Said Azura, looking at Corrin's eyes. Then, she gasped and put her right hand on his cheek. "Oh my, Corrin, that explosion…"

"Y-yeah. It was pretty flashy." He admitted. "But I'm not bad, aren't I?" He said. Beruka nodded sagely. While he had some burns, especially on spots like the chest or arms, he already looked a little better than he did when he emerged out of the shore. This made the assassin wonder just how strong he truly was with these unlocked abilities of his. On top of that overwhelming physical power, he now also had the ability to heal from wounds on such a short time span?

It took him a while to heal from the wounds caused by Ryoma after all. By comparison, if he hid from the others for a few hours, he'd be able to stroll back and pretend that he was never blasted in the face by a force powerful enough to outright vaporize a bunch of soldiers.

Then again, Beruka was also at the epicenter and she lived on… Though she had Corrin's body to thank for that.

"No. You're not." She said, a bit confused. "Where's the spear?"

"I let go of it after the explosion. It's underwater." Said Beruka, sitting on a rock. Truthfully, even that simple act actually caused some pain to her body, but she pretended that her grimace was caused by the loss of the spear.

"W-well… it should've been the last one." Said Azura. "And we still have that one…"

"Yeah, speaking of that…" Corrin glanced at Azura. "What's the origin of those portals and those bizarre beings? Those undead beings were missing back when you plunged near Nestra." When the young woman drew back a little, he shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry for lying to you, Azura, but please be honest with me. How… Just how long have you been fighting those fiends?" He sounded compassionate, but his shaky voice couldn't quite hide the disappointed edge in his voice. At himself, for lying, but also at his friend for lying to him while it was clear that she and the knight were somewhat ill-equipped for the current task.

"… I've been fighting them ever since the beginning of the war, whenever we were allowed to go near a lake." She said, sighing and glancing at the sand. Then, she looked at the night sky briefly, took a breather and gave Corrin a side-eyed glance.

"Those fiends have been invading Hoshido at times, but Mikoto seemed… prepared for them, almost. When the first soldiers emerged, she and some hand picked soldiers personally went to suppress them, though even then, the battle was harshly fought. To avoid casting panic, Mikoto decided to blame the attack on some new kind of Faceless, but quietly set some soldiers along the lakes, since that's where the reports said they emerged."

Corrin folded his arms. If that were the case, then Ryoma and the others lied to him back in the room. Unless…

"Ryoma and the others, did they know?"

"No. She looked very troubled whenever they came up. Angry, even." This caused Corrin's eyes to widen slightly. "It was a special bunch of Facelesses, capable of wielding weapons, that's what she told them. But she told me especially…" Azura bit her lips at this point. "That they were odd invaders. The fallen corpses of men and women slain in battle, possessed by the evil _yokai _that run amongst the countryside, whispering dark words and inflicting heinous deeds upon the population."

Yokai? Ah, it wasn't like it would be wise to cut her off halfway through. From what Beruka could gather though, the word meant "demon". Or referred to some (likely wicked) spirits of various size and strength. Unlike the demons of western Dreiz, who were more like tempting forces first and foremost, the Yokai were content to roam the countryside and lived their own lives, though a lot were eager to harass or attack humans who happened to pass by.

Were those beings really demons possessing the bodies of fallen soldiers?

"With all due respect Azura, it seems like sharing this information with the rest of the royal family would be wise."

"I know, but… Mikoto told me that my song could specifically affect those undead. It could reveal them, freeze them in their movements and, with further mastery, even destroy their outer shells in a single blow." She said. She prepared her follow up, but the songstress's words were cut off by a harsh cough and the Nohrian princess grasped her chest, almost falling to the ground. Corrin immediately helped her on her feet and held her close while the mysterious woman seemingly prepared to spit her lung out.

"Azura!" He said. "It's okay. You don't need to talk anymore!" He said, thoroughly regretting his earlier insistence. Corrin moved to try to carry her, but she denied it, standing up on her own feet quickly.

"I… I will manage. I've hidden the truth long enough." She coughed a few more times, and decided that leaning against Corrin would be wiser. He accepted, of course, and that odd feeling make itself known to Beruka again. The knight was rummaging through a pouch of a sort while Azura was leaning in, having kept his cool during her coughing fit. Corrin glanced at him briefly but focused on Azura. "I was bestowed… those weapons, and taught that the yokais use these portals as a sort of way to walk between their realm and that of the living. Apparently, all lakes can be used to lead to other worlds, or so she explained… Using those particular weapons, I could easily get rid of the undead and close the portals. They are powered by an old magic spell, only accessible by reaching the very depths of the royal library in Hoshido…"

"So… you had to carry that burden alone?"

"No, no. We had a small crew… But after my departure, well, it did fall on me to do it alone, until I met that man."

She pointed at the knight, and seeing his cue, he walked in, handing her some tiny items. Azura swallowed them quickly, and her pain seemed to ease a little, to the point where she stopped leaning on him. He still held her rather carefully just in case, and Beruka pondered on how incredibly stressful even holding her was. Azura had definitely proven herself to be not as frail as she looked, but in her weakened state, it would be easy for Corrin to cause some damage if he grasped a little too hard.

How hard was it for him to just hold something? Or embrace someone else? With this kind of strength, breaking bones would be incredibly easy for him. As much as she somewhat envied this raw power, and with the knowledge that she could perhaps muster the discipline needed to use it that carefully, having to constantly hold oneself back had to be tiring. And while she certainly wouldn't be hugging or touching people, accidentally breaking an axe or something else would be a bother for her.

"The knight, hm?" Said Corrin, eyeing the man. "And where did you find him?" He asked.

"I did so during my escape from Hoshidan forces who seeked to kill me." She said. "They seemed to believe that since you fled, I would do so as well. To their credit, I… did, but nonetheless, I still found myself chased. Since the Hoshidans who were trying to kill me used to be my… friends, I tried not to harm them, but this made me fall in troubles." Then, she glanced at the knight. "And he helped me, even when he was in a sorry state himself."

He chuckled a little. "You found my hiding spot, milady." He argued. "I'm not enough of a noble soul to go out of my way to defend one in danger, as much as I wished I was."

"You are." Said Corrin, plainly. This caused the two to interrupt their little conversation to focus on him. "I know that you'd go out of your way to help Azura, because you're a noble man, mister Gunter."

Azura nodded, a small smirk forming on her lips. "I was about to say it but you've caught up." She said. The knight moved to take his helmet away and did so fairly easily. Pale moonlight revealed a face that was almost unknown to Beruka, but had the prince nearly burst into tears. He was always an emotional young man, so she was barely surprised at this point, but the way his lips quivered a little, and the flows of tears streaming out of his eyes… it was akin to a young child encountering a parent after being separated from said parent over the course of some hours, pure hope.

An expression all too rarely seen by her, but she guessed that she could be happy if he was. Mimicking his grin, Beruka crossed her legs.

"You're alive!" He said. "I knew that it'd take more than a random thug and a long fall! D… I mean, Gunter!" Had it not been for Azura being in need of someone to lean into, Corrin would've quite likely tackled Gunter here and now to hug him. However, the older man was the one to make contact, approaching his surrogate son and putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Well, you quite overestimate me, young man." He chuckled warmly. "I only barely survived the fall, through some miracle that not even I can explain. I dragged my carcass across the canyon until I reached Hoshido. A young couple, seeing my sorry state, decided to allow me to stay in. While they were under suspicions that I was an enemy wounded in a skirmish, they found it rather… unpleasant to have to kill an old man." Gunter grumbled a little when coming up to that last part. "I recovered enough to try and trek towards the capital, in the hope of eventually finding you. I thanked the couple and left, though I buried my armor beforehand. However, the tragedy at the capital happened shortly afterwards, and while I did my best to disguise myself as a common Hoshidan peasant, I knew that I would be identified as a spy and killed." He stroke his chin. "Knowing that Mokushu was an ally, I elected to depart there to find shelter. On the way though, I stumbled upon Azura, and saved her from her pursuers."

"But… you were still caught at the fort way back then, no? What happened then?"

"Truthfully, I meant to let her be. Hoshido would obviously refuse to let me in, and Hans's betrayal made me realize that the Nohr that I defended for so long had truly vanished. For a little while, I considered retreating to the Mokushujin countryside… But I heard of your plight." He said. "So I decided to take up arms again. Returning to the Nohrian army could cause me to be targeted by Garon again, though. So when I took my arms again, I turned them against those fiends."

"When did you find those weapons though?"

"I ambushed a Nohrian knight, killed him and took his armor, naturally." Beruka actually let out the smallest "heh" in answer, and Corrin laughed when he realized that it was a joke. "Well, I… did borrow some armors from a hidden reserve near the frontier. Azura then bestowed me a card, explained to me the means to neutralize the portals and undead, and I went on a little journey across Dreiz." Gunter sighed.

"I was captured by Haitaka but you freed me." Said Azura. "I always yearned to inform you about Gunter, but you would doubt me perhaps, or the news would distract you from what was happening. I… apologize for keeping things a secret once more, Corrin."

"Hm." He said, seemingly minding yet another lie but being too happy to draw it in yet. "But then, what were you doing near Cheve? How did you get here so quickly? And how could you fight those beings by yourself?"

"The portals were usually pretty small, easy to reach and only released a few undead. Their invisibility was troublesome to face, and their strength made approaching them deadly, but I've fought against the very best that Qliphoth had to offer in the past." He said. "I managed to get used to my enemy and easily dispatched them. Once I was done with the north, I used a warp staff to teleport me south of the continent. Quite honestly, it was pure luck that we happened to meet. We agreed to meet at Cyrkensia. Nonetheless, Lady Azura assisted me with identifying the undead using that song, and I took care of them while the war was happening. Finding the portal was a bit harder that time, since a lot of the invaders had been freed, but I managed to do so."

"So, when you saw Corrin and I, what prevented you from simply taking off your helmet?"

"As painful as it was, I couldn't deviate from the mission. And I was somewhat… surprised by your presence as well. I decided not to destabilize you, especially since it looked like you already had to deal with difficult circumstances. I saw the massacre while leaving, and I… am sorry for leaving you behind at such an hour of need."

"Don't worry, you… had something to do." Said Corrin.

"Once we arrived at Cyrkensia, Azura and I decided to work together on that portal, since it was somewhere underwater and I couldn't easily get there with my armor. Azura apparently had something else to deal with, but she arrived on time. I hanged back and killed the few intruders that left the portal, then she finished the mission for me. That was the end of the invasion on Nohr, or so I was told."

"How do you know that?"

"I have a map that indicate the regions that have a portal or will obtain one. It is fueled by the magic of my song." Intervened Azura. "There are no portals left, but a big one was apparently going to open near Izumo. We both decided to take care of it since you'd be close. We thought that we could get it to stop on time, but it opened even deeper than we thought, and we had to first take care of some of the undead soldiers."

"Yeah, one of them was in the forest. Luckily enough, we got rid of them… I assume that a portal's destruction ensure no more soldiers?"

"Yes. The demons possess them like puppets. Closing the portal is akin to cutting the strings on the puppets." Explained Azura. "But we underestimated the power of this particular gate. Were it not for you two, we'd certainly have died. I thank you."

Corrin nodded. "It wasn't much." He lied, before looking at Gunter, with a hopeful smile on his face. "So, Gunter, are you going to come back with us?"

"I would very much like to." He said, and Corrin, to his credit, kept a polite smile even when he knew that he'd be met with a refusal. "But Garon's eyes are on you. If I were to interact with his children, they would be quick to inform him of my survival, out of gladness, and I may be the target for an assassination again. It was already hard enough to get a different armor and find the right vessel to depart." He grumbled, then he glanced right at Corrin. "Ah, to hell with this. I will join you." He said. "You've certainly been at the heart of quite some trouble, my boy, and it would be of poor taste for me to simply leave you behind while you have to deal with these circumstances… It already was in poor taste to simply leave you behind at Cheve."

This time, the young prince couldn't contain his excitement and walked towards the old man to warmly embrace him. Gunter didn't seem surprised, though perhaps a little embarrassed, but accepted the gesture. It was odd to see a scarred war veteran actually blush, but Azura seemed to find it rather endearing. Once Corrin got done, he stepped backwards a little.

"Sorry, I was just a bit carried away." He said.

"That's fair. We… haven't met in a while." Retorted Gunter. "But I've heard of your martial accomplishments over the course of the war. You've come into contact with the Hoshidan royals surprisingly often, but you've always prevailed nonetheless. Your name is on quite a few lips, Corrin."

The young man now blushed in turn. "I didn't do much…. Well, at Macarath, I just got beaten by Ryoma. Erm, Beruka here actually saved me from him." He said. "And Azura helped my sister Elise. They both contributed to this fight…"

"You've blasted a door open for the rest of us. Please, Corrin, do not downplay your performance." Asserted Beruka, in a manner meant to be as firm as possible. Gunter tilted his head while looking at her, and seemed to recognize her somewhat.

"Y-yeah. Well, I did, but you took care of the rest together. I shouldn't get all the credit."

"I'm not a war heroine." Grimaced Beruka. "I'm fine with you and the others taking the credit, Corrin."

"Then you probably should not have killed those two women, Lady Beruka. Both were apparently the retainers of the queen herself." Said Gunter. "The soldiers who survived the fight at Cheve were quite eager to inform everyone about your victory. After all, two elite Hoshidans failing to defeat one Nohrian soldier is good to boost morale in the troops."

Beruka sighed. "They were weaker than their position would let you believe." She said, perhaps rather hypocritically given her earlier admonishment to Corrin. However, she didn't quite see it as hypocrisy. As far as she was concerned, those two women were weaker than someone like Kagero, for instance. Still, perhaps it was a victory to be enjoyed. She certainly understood better why they considered her for promotion shortly after the battle at Cheve, though she also considered that her leading of some of the troops at Macarath also helped.

"It's kind of funny though." Said Corrin. "For a while, I… I guess I kind of knew that you were alive."

Gunter raised a curious eyebrow, and Corrin continued his point. "I mean, your voice… Even when its all covered up, I'm going to be able to identify the voice of the man who raised me for years, right? Maybe someone like Jakob or Felicia would've been able to recognize it as well."

Gunter laughed a little. "How observant of you. But it does make sense. You spent about two decades growing up with me. You'd recognize your surrogate father's voice."

"As far as I'm concerned, you're my father though." Said Corrin. "You're the only one who took care of me and stuck by my side… Well, erm, one of them just wasn't lucky, and the other is mysterious but… you get my point, right?" Corrin snapped his fingers when he realized something. "Oh, by the way. I want to ask you, Gunter, how all… How much did you knew? About everything?"

"I knew you were Sumeragi's son, but I was told not to dispense that information." He said. "Truthfully, I was exiled to the fortress as well. In the past, I chose to… deny an opportunity of climbing the hierarchy within Nohr." He clicked his tongue. "I was content with being a knight and, truthfully, politics have always bored me. At least on the battlefield, the enemy is polite enough to attack you from the front." He said. Beruka would disagree, but she could understand what he meant. "He reacted quite negatively to it, for a reason that I cannot grasp. Later on, when he assigned me to watch over you, he made it quite clear that I was exiled in all but name."

"That's a really petty thing to do. Why would he do that? You've served him quite oft… ah, what am I saying. Of course he'd make that decision." Corrin sighed and softly put his hand on his face, sighing heavily. "You know, when I heard of Garon as a kid, I always wondered why my "father" would put me in a prison. The other siblings would constantly talk highly of him, so I figured that maybe he was harsh but fair." He glanced at Gunter. "Well, you were my da- my father in my mind already, but I often wondered on Garon being a great man or not in the end. But the more I hear about him… the more I realize that he's just a madman without a cause."

"Garon used to be a great hero." Said Gunter. "I served alongside him and Queen Katerina. He was very much like Lady Camilla, though perhaps a bit more arrogant, but he had a sincere desire to change the world for the better and meant to stop Qliphoth to prevent another raid, not for glory." The older man sighed wearily. "The things that we saw during that war… they probably corrupted him somehow. Of course, the concubine wars and Katerina's death probably changed him for the worse as well."

Azura flinched slightly when the subject came up, and Corrin decided to drop it. "Alright. I see, Gunter. We're going to try to find a way to get you to fight alongside us but… well, if you want to retire, er, you can do so at any time. It's the best country to do so. I'm not belittling you, of course! But you don't need to fight Garon's war for him, and you've already fought for Nohr all your life."

"That war, I'm fighting it for you." Said Gunter, with a certain firmness to his voice, though he accompanied with a gentle smirk. "I'm an old fool without a purpose, again, so I might as well grab my trusty weapons once again and do what I spent all my life doing… Besides, in my youth, I've witnessed the true fall of Qliphoth." The man mused. "It would be glorious to spend my old days assisting the conclusion of a feud about as old as the very ground we tread on."

In spite of his old age, Gunter still had that Nohrian fire to him. Corrin, instead of being dejected, seemed accepting of it. Retrieving his father figure seemed to have killed whatever exhaustion he had before, and Beruka guessed that she was happy at him retrieving such an important person in his life. Now, what mattered was not getting him killed. The old man was certainly skilled, but if he made a mistake, or ended up overestimating his body's resilience, then his death would certainly devastate Corrin.

If she were in Corrin's position, she'd try to encourage him to stay behind, but she understood that the old man would never accept being sidelined… If only because if she were in _Gunter's _place, she would certainly not appreciate being seen as weak and fragile enough to be pitied by fellow Nohrians.

"We should start to head back. There's a place we could hide you in for now." Said Corrin. "We're going to leave Izumo tomorrow, I'll try to think up of some excuse to justify your return. And, oh, don't worry, it's certainly not a bad place!"

Gunter raised an eyebrow. "Lord Corrin, I shall not hide in the closet again to cast fear upon Leo." He said, Corrin laughed warmly in answer. "Unless… Ah, yes, that orb. Azura talked to me about it. Well, are there any Nohrians soldiers within?"

"No." Reassured Corrin. "We put some people in a rotation during displacement, to save their stamina, but there won't be any since we're stationed here. W-well, I mean, there's Lilith for company…"

"Lilith?" Asked Gunter. "What is she doing here? Shouldn't she be guarding the fortress?"

"It's a long… story. I'm surprised Azura didn't mention her being a fish dragon."

Gunter blinked slowly, and then turned around. "Very well, I will accompany you near the castle."

"I'll fetch the crystal." Corrin looked down at the princess, who, in spite of everything, still seemed pretty tired. "Huh, Azura, are you going to need any help?" He asked. She nodded, with quite the energy to it, and held unto his arm with both hands. Corrin threw her a confused stare but didn't protest, and the group slowly started to head out.

"… How will you justify all the tears in your costume though?"

"T-these? Oh. Well, a wild boar…"

"Wild boar?" Said Beruka, with a small smile and a raised eyebrow. "Hm… I'll find you a story while we'll be heading towards the castle. It will be complicated to find something admittedly."

"I know." He made an awkward little smile. "S-sorry about it. H-hummm, and by the way, what did you mean when we…"

He glanced at the other two, and Beruka simply put his hand on his shoulder, containing her disappointment. "I… I'll tell you later… Alright, let's find a story."

"Okay, so… we were walking down the forest and then a giant slug ambushed us."

Beruka groaned.

…

**N/A : **RIP Sumeragi! The vallite presence die here likely. Well, a certain you know who will be appearing later but I don't think those soldiers will show up again.

Gunter goodness! It also reminds me that I haven't introduced Jakob yet. Honestly, as you all probably guessed, the fic is mostly on Corrin and Beruka. I might have Jakob appear but I doubt he'll have much screentime, haha.

Corrin and Beruka get just a bit farther but unfortunately, our brave heroes suffered a un-gallant interruption! How will they recover?

What did you think of the chapter? Please, send in reviews, I love them!

See ya later!


	28. The dark forest

Corrin was quietly lurking in his now dark room, sitting in front of a plate with some of Izana's "god dessert" on it. After eating some of it, he could confirm that it was indeed worthy of the praise of the Archduke. However, the young man had some further things to think about, so the matters of the sugar delicacy had to be tucked away from his mind at the moment.

He had received the rather unexpected blessing of Izana in his quest to try to explain just why his now-ruined clothes were now torn to shreds. Since Beruka had been rather unreceptive to the idea of an ambush by a deadly slug, the young man was in quite a pickle… at least up until the leader of Izumo decided to greet them at the gate of the castle.

"Hey folks!" He remembers him saying. "I trust that you've had fun running around! If you guys need help, I've got some spare clothes for you in those two nearby shacks! You should change quickly though! I've had to delay the dessert for quite a while, and oh boy, I can tell you that everyone in here is craving for our famous sugar treats!"

"How did you… hm, right. A seer." Beruka sighed. "I trust that you've come with an excuse?"

"Huh… not at all! But we'll think of something"

They simply went with an "Azura was feeling overwhelmed, so we decided to take a small stroll to help her feel better. We know that you'd have wanted to help but she wouldn't have been able to focus will all the noise". Admittedly, it was a rather long walk, as Leo pointed out, but asking questions and maybe lightly arguing in public would not have passed, so the family "accepted" it, Camilla shoved the rest of the food in Azura's plate to try to make up for all the meals that she missed and they ultimately concluded the dinner in time, though the Hoshidans were a bit more suspicious by the night's end.

The Nohrians went back to their rooms afterward. It was said that the Hoshidans would leave in the first hour of the morning, since both royal families leaving together could lead to… unpleasantness ensuing. As a result, they would be gone by the morning, and since Hoshido had their warp staves, they could be to the capital by the time the Nohrians themselves are even out of Izumo. It didn't bother him that much, since he wished to fight them later, after taking some more time to ready himself to the possibility of having to face them.

Gunter had been quietly placed in the castle, where Lilith kept him company, and Beruka and Azura had opted to leave for their rooms as well, leaving Corrin alone. The princess proposed staying behind a little to try and help Corrin deal with the recent news, but the prince merely said that he could tackle that news alone. After some hours spent loitering in his room, he couldn't help but realize that he had overestimated himself a little. Sleep wasn't coming to him as easily as he thought it would, and he felt like he could, in fact, probably do three laps around the entire castle… no, perhaps the entire city, before even feeling a little winded.

He couldn't help but think back of those undead beings and Gunter and Azura's secret mission to get rid of them. He'd need to stop thinking of these soon, since he was now about to fight living opponents, but he felt perhaps a little upset at being lied to again. Azura perhaps had some right to keep him in the dark (in all honesty, he either would not have believed her or would have been reluctant to help), but still… it had been a rather dangerous mission to undertake. Azura had to fight on nearly two fronts in Cheve, for instance, and as tough as she was, he couldn't help but worry for his friend's safety, alone against those invisible soldiers.

And what about that song? It seemed to hurt her when she used it too much, after all, and had a weird interaction with those visitors… Well, more like those demons. He did wonder why the yokais would try and visit the corporeal world though. Were they out to cause chaos? That hooded man mentioned a sort of leader and seemed to panic upon recognizing the song. Furthermore, they were quite a long way from the lake when the attack occurred, and the sword Ganglari reacted rather… oddly to contact with the mysterious undead, as if they were tapping into the same power source.

Was Azura lying to her again? As much as he hated to admit, it was likely. He had bigger problems to deal with at the moment, so he wouldn't ask for a while, but… five, maybe six years after the war's end, he'd ask her just what was going on, who sent those beings and who they were serving. Corrin nodded and sat up. Yeah. For now, they'd focus on more regular matters. He could ask it earlier, without a doubt, but truth to be told? He didn't want to find himself entangled in another conflict so soon after this one.

Having found a satisfying, if temporary, way to end his little undead dilemma, Corrin's mind diverged somewhere else and he lazily began to finish his cake, preparing himself to go to sleep and praying that the excellent taste of the cake would somehow knock him out. He thought about what happened just after the battle on the lake with Beruka, and what she meant to say to him. Somewhere, he knew what she meant to say (or hoped that he knew, at least).

And he wondered how he could try to even follow-up on it. Beruka had seemingly been convinced that he was dead after the blast, and was coming off a battle, so she was a bit more open than she was most of the time. Perhaps he could try to… ask her out? No, what if she just saw him as a good friend? He'd just embarrass himself in front of her by doing that, and if he waited for Beruka to propose, then he'd need to get himself into yet another violent fight where they could both die. On one hand, the current situation loaned him plenty of such fights on the horizon. On the other hand, it was a rather unhealthy way to engage in a relationship. He knew she was an assassin but…

Corrin sighed, got up from bed, and, after putting on some more clothing, decided to head out to smell the fresh air. He just couldn't sleep, and staying put just made him even more contemplative. On the way to head out, the young man glanced at his weapon, Yato. Even with his draconic powers, it had been pretty difficult to fend off these monsters. He wondered how things would have went if he packed it before the battle? Would it have been easier for him to fight their leader?

He felt a bit stronger whenever he held the weapon in his hand. It was like being… in tune, sort of. Letting go of it wasn't painful to him, nor did it truly bother him, but whenever he grasped the weapon, he felt like he could split mountains in half and effortlessly intercept the fastest projectile. W-well, he wasn't going to try to see if he could do these things, but he sure felt a bit mightier and more confident. And in those troubled times, when he, despite his bouts of confidence, always ended up hesitating, he sure appreciated that little boost to his ego that the sword offered. And there was the obvious security of carrying a weapon around oneself.

Sure, it'd be a nice, small walk, and it was silly for him to drag his weapon around when he was probably going to stay well within the castle, but he had seen fights happening twice on the same day within Izumo. In case some invisible undead ninja decided that it'd be a good time to target him, Corrin wanted to be protected. He just grabbed the weapon, twirled it a little, and put it in its sheath before leaving the room, stepping off into the dark hall. Somewhere in the distance, some of the Izumians were still having fun in the castle, right at the middle where they probably wouldn't bother both families. Few wanted to deal with the wrath of a sore Camilla, after all.

The young dragon closed the door leading to his room, sighed, and then began his slow walk. To avoid being heard, he nearly tip-toed around the hall, trusting that he wouldn't be confronted by either Leo or Xander at the turn of the corner. Regrettably enough, he didn't want to see anyone else for the duration of his walk. Not because he disliked them, of course, but because he just wanted to enjoy a quiet little walk without being interrupted by anyone.

The gods decided to honor his request so far, and the young man was pleasantly surprised to find that he was being left alone so far. Nothing but the distant laughter in the horizon as an agreeable background noise, or some crickets, or some heavy snoring coming out of certain rooms. It was a very agreeable ambiance for him, and he smiled as he walked down the wooden halls, heading off a bit further than he intended within the castle.

His path took him towards the garden. On the way, he noticed the room where he held the meeting with his brothers and sister from Hoshido, all barred-up because of Zola's lightning spell within it. He promptly looked away from it and put it out of his mind, simply enjoying the quiet. After a little walk, his path led him down some wooden stairs that brought him directly into the grass floor itself. Deciding to further extend his little nightly journey, Corrin took the stairs and walked in the garden. The feeling of the grass on his bare feet was surprisingly agreeable for him, and he decided to look up at the starry sky.

He remembered that a few legends, both Hoshidan and Nohrian, treated of the stars. The sky is just a roof that the dragon creators use to keep the heaven and the earth separate from one another. The souls of the dead, upon climbing up, went past that roof. Well, the "good" kind of dead. Criminals were either doomed to spend an eternity of suffering deep below the earth or were granted the right to reincarnate into a kinder person.

Anyway, if one was good through their life, they could access the heaven and forever enjoy a life of pleasure, without the misery and sadness that may have plagued their earthly selves. However, quite a few of the souls were sad, because when they were beyond the roof, they couldn't see their loved ones anymore. This bothered the dragon gods, since people weren't enjoying themselves as hard. Fortunately, they found a quick solution.

The dawn dragon first carved a very large hole into the universe using his nail, and then set it ablaze to provide some light. The sun, as it was called, could be used by the dead to peer down at the universe and see their loved ones from up above. The dusk dragon, meanwhile, was a bit lazier, so instead he pierced the roof at the speed of light multiple times over, and told the dead to gaze directly through those to see how the world that they left was doing. Well, the Nohrians mythos had the Dusk Dragon create the sun and the stars himself, and the Dawn Dragon did both himself as well, but that was just how he interpreted the myths.

So, the stars were ways for the spirits of those who passed away to contemplate on their legacy and see how their children were doing. And since the people above glowed a lot and tended to group in front of the holes (in an orderly manner of course), this meant that the holes were full of light. Corrin, by looking up, wondered if his parents were looking down on him right now. Well… maybe not his true father, who was maybe down there, but he imagined that both Sumeragi and Mikoto were looking down on him from one of these holes.

So, he smiled and waved at the sky. It was a dumb gesture, and it was very unlikely that the stars were magical holes for dead people to look into, but after spending a night fighting magical cadavers, he figured that perhaps those myths were true in some manner. He wondered how they'd look back on his future actions but he decided to block that off his mind for the moment, and just resumed his walk. He'd be reaching the Hoshidan "side" of the palace soon, and since he knew that the ninjas were there, he contemplated turning around before either of them angrily confronted him about what he was doing outside.

In his defense, he was walking around with a sword, so he couldn't blame them for being suspicious. Sighing, the young man turned around, figuring out that he could find a way to extend his walk, but his enhanced senses the sound of someone treading upon the wooden floor, and he turned around rather quickly to peer at whoever could be making such noise, already preparing to swing his sword at whoever would attempt to attack him. This time, he was being a bit too paranoid though, because the figure nearby was unarmed and seemingly not even aware of his presence.

Unluckily though, the figure in question was Takumi. It was hard to recognize the young man without his signature hairstyle, akin to a pineapple (as described by his retainer). Without it, his long white hair was almost trailing down to the ground, and he was dressed in a white kimono. The light of the moon above revealed a look of conflict on his face, but the young dragon didn't wish to investigate it any further. Out of all the siblings, or even out of all Hoshidans in particular, Takumi was the one royal who hated him the most.

The prince wheeled around and prepared to leave, but Takumi's alert senses allowed him to detect the presence of someone else, and he immediately turned to point an accusatory finger at whoever passed. "Who dares?" He said. If Corrin simply left, there wouldn't be many consequences perhaps. It's not like the prince could simply get his retainers on high alert and attempt to warn the entire castle, right? Nevermind, he could. Sighing, and already punching himself for his decision, Corrin quietly turned around and gazed at his brother, spreading his arms wide. "

"It's me, Takumi." He said. Upon realizing this, Takumi grimaced, as if he found himself in the presence of trash, and waved his hand at his brother in the most dismissive way he could muster.

"It's you, huh? Go away." Ordered the prince. Corrin prepared to just do so, but then the archer's sharp eyes noticed the sword and he raised his hand. "What's that sword?" He asked. "And why are you snooping around our quarters with it? Do you intend to finish what your dwarfish underling started?"

"No. I don't want to kill you, Takumi." Said the prince. He intended to just leave it at that, but then he took a few steps at his brother. "And, were it not for me and the other Nohrians, you wouldn't be here to insult me."

The white-haired man made a distasteful grimace. "What, do you think I'll thank you? You're leading an attack force on our country. I don't want to buddy up with you." He said, before leaning back slightly. "It took this day for the others to make peace with the idea that you've truly become a son of Nohr, but I always knew that you were up to cause troubles. The very day I saw you back at the castle…"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm a traitorous prince and an unworthy son of the queen." Said Corrin. "I think you made that clear the previous times you tried to kill me."

Takumi drew back in indignation. "You'd talk so casually to me after what you've done? Surely you understand the reason for my rage, Corrin. I've lost my mother and plenty of my people to your blighted country and its machinations. In knowledge of that, you'd still toy around with me?"

"Takumi, I'd undo what had been done in an instant if…" He said, before putting his hands on his head and groaning. "Ah, forget it. Takumi, we can't do that dance forever. Look. I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry for everything that happened. You've suffered a lot, and running off to join Nohr after that affected you. I'm sorry. But I can't let Nohr collapse, and I can't fight the people I grew up with." He clenched his fists. "I grew up with Xander, and Camilla, Leo, Elise, Gunter… and, well, after that I met some people. I can't just kill or harm them."

"So we're unimportant to you? Are you angry because we pretended to be your family? The Nohrians did so for your entire life."

"No." He said. "But you did pretend to be my "true family" and you did constantly mock and berate my Nohrian siblings for doing what you just did. We're not bound by blood. We never were."

"Hmph… Either way. You're right that such talk is futile. The next time I'll see you, there won't be such a dialogue, Corrin. I'll simply pluck my arrow directly into your brain, and once you die, I'll move on to the rest of your family and army. You got that?"

The blue-haired young man smiled in answer to the threat, and didn't answer. This angered the archer, but he attempted to keep some composure, and spoke the next words rather imperiously. "What's with the smirk? I'll make good on that threat, you'll see."

"How will you do so when I have this at my side?" Said Corrin, casually pulling Yato out of its sheath and holding it up. Takumi drew back further, at first scared of the idea that his treacherous brother would attack him in the dead of the night, but when he noticed Yato, his features twisted into an expression of utter rage and incomprehension, and he walked back unto his previous spot, gripping the wooden bar separating him from the garden with such rage that he snapped it in half.

"W-what trickery is this?! What have you done? To undo the dam" He stammered at that. "Explain yourself immediately! This can't be Yato!"

"It's not Nohrian magic, Takumi. It's Yato." He held out the sword and twirled it a few times. "Shadow Yato, more exactly. Reborn into a stronger form. In the end, destroying it didn't do much." Corrin almost gloated. It felt good to be the one to hold the upper hand for once. "And I didn't need it to beat you into a pulp the last time, right? Ever since Cheve, I've only grown more powerful and skilled, Takumi. When the time comes, you won't even have the time to shoot that arrow." Promised Corrin. "I'll take you down and you won't even have the time to realize you."

The young prince turned around. "You better work on your insults, Takumi, because you're only going to be able to yell ineffectually at me from your cage after I'll be done with you."

"Can't be… can't be…" Takumi was slumping to the ground now, and to Corrin's surprise, he was crying actually. His compassionate side encouraged the prince to walk up and console the Hoshidan archer but he knew that his aid would be rejected. So, he just shrugged, sheathed his sword again, and quietly left. He both felt bad, but also greatly empowered, as exemplified by his much more confident swagger as he reached his room, and the smirk that came along with it. He had defeated Takumi in their little verbal brawl, and he'd defeat him again in the future battle that would pit them one against the other.

…

The Hoshidans, as promised, left very early in the morning and were accompanied by some scouts that would ensure that they'd have the time to retreat before being ambushed by the Nohrian army. The Nohrians, after waking up, spent some hours waiting for them to establish as much distance as possible before heading out as well.

Before leaving though, Izana insisted to see the royals one last time. While he promised that it "wouldn't take long, barely a minute!", the Archduke still arrived at the scene rather late, since he said that the gods had expressed some very urgent wishes and he needed to talk to them. For the siblings, this was a rather blatant attempt at trying to give the Hoshidans just a tiny bit of time to establish distance, but they nonetheless gracefully accepted this.

Once he finally arrived, Izana quickly embraced all members of the family (or, in Elise's case, gave her a high five) and waved at them. "We'll hold Zola prisoner for now! Don't worry, we won't be doing anything too harsh on him, party pooper as he is. The soldiers who assisted him directly will also be imprisoned, of course. We'd capture more, but we'd need to do a whole looottt of questioning and stuff, so… up, up and away, and we'll see about that later!"

"Thank you, Lord Izana. Your gracious behavior is well appreciated and while terrible things have happened at the hands of a Nohrian, I do hope that in the future, the bond between our countries will only grow deeper." Assured Xander, remaining courteous.

"Sure thing! We'll hang out again!" Izana then turned towards the others and snapped his fingers at them before pointing. "And I'll be seeing you all as well! Promise!"

Since the group was eager to go, they laughed a little and left quickly enough. This left them blind to the strangely bitter smile that emerged on the Duke's face as he waved away at them, looking over at the blue-haired woman. He sighed heavily and, once the Nohrians got out, turned towards his people. "Alright, what day is it? Oh, tomato day? Hm-hm! Very well, let's shower this place with tomato sauce, people!"

…

While the Izumians were engaging in a legume war, the Nohrians resumed the conflict. After all, while they spent the day at the castle, the war was still on-going. Xander, Camilla, and Leo were sitting at a table at the wagon that was leading the army, studying a map, and some letters that were sent to them yesterday. Corrin was also present, though Azura and Elise were away for now. None of the troops has had any real trouble getting up from bed, thanks to their discipline, but Azura still sang the melody of her song to the army, using a wind tome powered by Elise's magic to carry her melody across the troop and reinvigorate those who faltered.

While a lot of them weren't tired, the melody still had a positive effect on their morale, so the royals weren't about to stop them at any point. Besides, they had the map to deal with.

"Our forces broke through the first lines of defense easily, and a few Mokushujins units are accompanying them into Hoshido itself as well." Said Leo. He pointed the tip of a cane at the east of Hoshido. "The mages in each unit have considered sending out the beasts ahead, to better soften up the opposition."

"Hm…" Xander studied the map. "Up ahead, there is the wind tribe. It would be bad if the inhabitants of the tribe had to deal with the Faceless"." Said Xander. "And we're still close to Izumo. Even if the gods decided to smite them, the average guards would be very unprepared to deal with even a single roaming Faceless."

"I don't get it. Why are the Faceless so wild?" Said Corrin. "Why not make them obedient to avoid such things?"

"Iago." And Leo sighed heavily when the name came up. "He and his goons have focused on making strong magical beasts, but they haven't worked on the spells to control them. As far as they knew, a Faceless was meant to roam around and cause thoughtless destruction on Hoshido anyway. As a result, a mage can only really point at a direction ad the Faceless will follow it… for a while." The magician prince grunted.

"We'll need to pass through the Wind Tribe as well." Pointed out, Camilla. "The Eternal Stairway is a direct shortcut towards Hoshido. It'll lead us directly towards a fort though. However, since the six of us royal wielders are here." She continued. "We have a good shot at taking it compared to the other units. Some might even follow our lead and take the Stairway to reach the fort, and use it to continue the direct attack unto the capital while the rest will take over the cities and lesser forts."

"We'll need to hurry up a little with that. Some units are in front of us, though we'll catch up with them soon enough." Leo assured. "But speaking of that. The Wind Tribe is involved with Hoshido, aren't they? They might try to fight us."

"Quite correct." Continued Camilla. "We fought the Fire Tribe's very own princess back at Notre Sagesse. And the Ice Tribe has already attempted to rise against us. Why would the Wind Tribe be different?"

"Fuga, the leader of the Wind Tribe, has fought with our father in the past, and has always been neutral with Hoshido. He should be willing to grant us passage." Explained Xander. "But if we can't, then we'll need to walk around them."

"This might be dangerous. Hoshido's army is very large and their famed ninjas will be running amok to try to wear us down. While we have the upper hand, for now, they could likely wear us down and prevent us from effectively laying siege to their strongholds." Leo warned. "And speaking of those, we'll have to deal with the wall of Suzanoh at some point. We will need the help of the other available Nohrians to break through it."

"Yes." Said Corrin, deciding to pipe in. "I heard that it hadn't been broken through ever since King… well, King Suzanoh built it. We're going to need a lot of manpower to defeat it. A-and beyond, there's the capital too."

"Correct. But we need to win. Or else, Hoshido's counter-offensive will be devastating." Said Leo. "Quite truthfully, I don't think that they could muster the power to take over Nohr if we manage to get far enough into the invasion. But since Garon poured all our available resources into it... I fear for the stability of the country if we fail. It may not look like it, but we're about as desperate as the Hoshidans."

"We will succeed." Assured Xander. "Some of the finest warriors in the continent are walking amongst us, and I think that it would be fair to say that all of us are as good as them."

"Well, except maybe little Elise!"

"Y-yes, Elise. Well, speaking of that, we will need to ensure that she's watched. Everyone will need to be surveyed closely." He said. "The ninjas will be sending their very best to attempt to take us down, and our duty will be to resist their desperate assault. I will request that you keep close to your retainers and perhaps a few hand-picked soldiers, and remain careful all the time."

Xander glanced at Corrin. "Oh, speaking of that, I've managed to hire Jakob." Said Xander, causing the prince to sit straight in surprise. "He's been working for other families, but has… passionately described his frustration with those, and seek to work with you again. He should join us soon, though he said that he had some of his own business to attend to at Nohr."

"But how will he join us in time? There's the canyon and, well, Hoshido to cross first, right?"

"You know Jakob." Said Leo. Corrin nodded. "Now, there's another problem…"

A voice sprung out of nowhere, loudly interrupting Leo. "Sir!" It said, banging on the door so hard it could almost knock it off its hinges. While they had no reason to think that they were under attack, the royals still grabbed their weapons, and Corrin, who could shrug off a blade if he needed, made his way towards the door to open it. He did so with eerie timing, and the messenger who stood beyond the door accidentally knocked on his face as a result.

The fist hit Corrin's face, but while Corrin merely drew back in surprise, the messenger was the one to get hurt, yelping a little and caressing his fist. The young prince reflected a little on his durability and then looked at the man. "Hmm, sorry about my face hitting my fist." He said, earnestly. "Is there something that we need to tell you?"

"Y-yes, milord!" The messenger bowed immediately. "Immediately! It's a huge urgency! I need to make you aware of it as soon as possible! It's so urgent I shouldn't even…"

"Yes, yes. Please, do mention it." Invited Leo. The messenger closed the door and ran into the room. Foregoing politeness, he slammed his finger down at a part of the region in front of them. "Goemon's Trap", as it was called, because of the gentleman thief that used the narrow passage to surprise noble and steal their money to deliver it to poor people.

"There's a trap." Said Leo. "Right?"

"Y-yes! A lot of soldiers!" The messenger gesticulated widely. "A thousand soldiers! Maybe more! Awaiting us with enough weapons to cloud the sun!"

"Calm down dearie." Said Camilla, patting the man in the back. "One of the scouts told you, right? Well, you did a good job reporting it! You should go ahead and check that crystal ball while we deal with this!"

"T-t-t-thank you." He said, glancing at her a little but then realizing that all three of her brothers were staring at her. He checked into his pocket and put a small envelope on the wooden table. "Here, a report! I shall now… go check the crystal ball."

"Yes. We'll send someone else to take care of informing our scouts, go, my little messenger!" She said, while he departed with such swiftness that he could have left afterimages if he went just a little faster. Then, Camilla got the actual envelope, opened it, and read the report, passing it along briefly.

"Hmm, it seems like our apocalyptic boy was not lying." She said. "There's a whole lot of soldiers positioned near Goemon's Trap. Well, we knew there'd be a lot but this is a lot."

"Yes. They must be desperate to get us into costly fights early on." Said Leo. "Besides, Ryoma and the others knew the path that we'd take to leave Izumo, so it makes sense for them to leave such considerable numbers behind."

"Can't we just go around the Trap and flank them?" Said Corrin. "Or just… errr, go around?"

"You'd be right." Said Leo. "But the land nearby is home to the kitsune. They're rather similar to that man, Keaton, in that they can transform into beast forms. We outnumber them, and we have weapons effective against them too… But unfortunately, they're swift and tricky and we cannot afford pointless skirmishes. They're rather territorial too, so they'd certainly react negatively to a human army stepping into their home."

"Leo's right. We're going to need to walk into that trap, and it'll be a bottleneck… There's already another unit headed for it, I propose that we regroup to pool our numbers together first." Said Camilla. "But we can't charge together. Our great numbers would be negated by the Bottleneck and while our fliers will be unaffected, Hoshidan archers will have no trouble with them."

"Could we wear them down with Faceless?" Suggested Leo, though he seemed to cringe slightly at proposing the use of those beasts.

"No. They likely have traps. It'd take a lot of Faceless to breakthrough." He said. "Hm… we could attempt to use a magical spell to attack from afar, perhaps? They'd likely have ninjas to try to assassinate the mages though, and we need to be quick about our invasion. The more time we spend swamped at the fort, the more time they have to plan out traps, gather more soldiers, and summon their considerable resources to their advantage. They have the upper hand with those, after all. Even with the backing of those countries…"

"Hm…" Corrin pondered. "I could take on my dragon form and engage the enemy if you wish. I'm impervious to regular weaponry in this form, and I can certainly fight them for a long while. Enough to have your assistance on it."

"Ah… yes, I meant to come to that. Corrin. Remember those weapons at Mokushu? The ones that could somewhat harm you more than regular swords?"

"Huh? Yeah." He shuddered a little. "Nasty things."

"Yes. Well, those "nasty things" are Wyrnslayers weapons." Said Leo. "They're weapons meant to kill draconic creatures. They're difficult to craft, but Hoshido has access to the material needed to produce them and since Nohr is famed for its wyvern riders, well, there's a lot of them around."

"Wyrnslayers? Oh, so they're meant to…" Corrin grimaced. When he was even grazed with that damned sword, he felt as if his wounds were being salted and then set on fire. If the enemy specialized in them, then he was certainly going to cover himself with some armor.

"Yes… Because your draconic nature was identified by the people of Hoshido, they've been building these early in the war." Corrin sighed sadly. He knew that it was the right decision from a Hoshidan perspective, but he was uncomfortable with the thought that Ryoma or even Yukimura would order some weapons specifically to kill him in particular. Well, the latter was more likely. Yukimura had been a loyal advisor to Mikoto through the years, and Corrin had defeated him in combat when he made his choice, way back during that fateful day. It was likely that the Hoshidan tactician did hate him enough to decide to just do that.

"It would be dangerous to let you fight an army like that. Your power is considerable, but going through a thousand men and women like that would take you to your limits, and it'd take one hit from those weapons to injure you… and while you're more resistant, magic in enough quantity could bring you down. I understand and appreciate your devotion, but I can't send my brother to his death."

"What are the odds that they would all pack wrynslayers, though?" Said Corrin. "They can't produce enough of these to arm that entire army, right?"

"Quite correct, but it would be logical to assume that the Hoshidan soldiers would have those weapons available. After all, they know that you'll be coming with the rest of us." Camilla shook her head. "Now, my dear, I would love to see a draconic rampage like the one you did in Macarath. Seeing you just tear through those soldiers was a rush! But I can't just send my poor little brother to fight all those barbarians and their weapons meant to neutralize him. Not when he's alone."

"But if I don't go in." Said Corrin. "Then others will die."

"Unfortunately, but war is that way. We can't just let you die, Corrin. You're our brother and a prince of Nohr. It doesn't automatically make you more important than the men and women who are fighting in this war, but it does mean that you need a different… treatment."

"It's just a different way to put that I'm more in… S-sorry. I got a bit upset." Corrin, who nearly rose from his chair, chuckled a little awkwardly and crossed his legs. "Hm… I do have an idea that could let us launch an attack." He said, opting to switch subjects.

"What would that be?" Said Xander, sounding curious.

"Well. That orb could be used to release the army." Said Corrin. "It can get a lot of people within itself after some upgrades. I think that we could try to put a part in the army in it, sneak someone across Kitsune territory, quickly release the army and launch an attack on their flank."

"Hm… that'd rely on not being spotted by their scouts or assaulted by the Kitsune. And besides, it'd be a small portion of us. Even if the surprise attack goes flawlessly, then we'd still have to deal with a thousand soldiers."

"We could launch the attack while the others are preparing theirs. The Hoshidans will be surprised at being flanked, and I'll be using my dragon form to provide some firepower." He raised his hands. "I know, they have those weapons, but with you and the others around, I'm not going to be in danger of getting overwhelmed."

"You want to use that stone, huh?"

"It's powerful." Explained Corrin. "And I can control myself enough now. O-of course, desperate times call for desperate measures on that one. I'm not going to use it if there's no need for overkill."

"It does make sense. One must use the gifts bestowed upon them. In your case, it means becoming a huge dragon!" Quoted Camilla. "But we'll need to be quick about it"

Corrin smiled a little, eager that his plan was accepted. It was true that he felt a little pushy on being a dragon but so what? It was a powerful form and its weaknesses could be negated with the proper support. Besides, he felt stronger when he was in this particular shape. He was just free of going around and knocking away all those people… Of course, a part of him thought that killing was still wrong, but he had mostly accepted it now. It would be stupid to spare soldiers when they numbered at a thousand. Though he'd have to stop that once the battle ended.

"Let's meet up with General Tello. He's leading the assault as well and ought to be informed on our little ploy… However, if I may say so, I recommend having someone to accompany whoever will be carrying the orb through enemy territory. After all, if the person gets incapacitated, then we will be stuck in the crystal, or at least, we will be forced to emerge in hostile territory, well away from the fight."

"I could fly but if you want, hm… Maybe we could get the cooperation of someone like Beruka?" Said Corrin. "I'll carry the orb, and she'll watch out for me. She knows how to navigate through hostile territory too."

"A wise choice!" Camilla raised her thumb.

"Yes. But we must also be prudent not to simply put Beruka to protect you. I am quite sure that she can do her work efficiently, but I'd rather be careful. Who else should be assigned to help?"

"Niles is also quite good at navigating through hostile environments." Said Leo. Simultaneously, Xander, Corrin, and Camilla shook their heads a little and waged their fingers, prompting a defensive reaction out of the wizard prince. "Yes, he's an eccentric man, and I know that his behavior is quite… special, but he's an expert at what he's doing and I'll have a talk with him about this. If we want a tracker, then he could be good."

"Hm, good. Now we need a third person." Said Xander. "I'd put in more, but the group would need to be in small-enough numbers to avoid being caught by the Kitsune or Hoshidan scouts who'd be on the lookout."

"Shura, maybe?" Suggested Corrin. "He's a rather experienced ninja from Kohga after all."

"You'd put your life in the hands of a pirate? While we accepted to recruit him, Corrin, I would not trust this man's loyalty."

"I know, but… When the uprising with the prisoners started in Mokushu, he fought with us. Erm, he had a little motivation, but he still went to see me afterward, instead of just fleeing while we were all busy. And… and I think that we can trust him in navigating through dangerous environments. I'd just need to consult him, if you don't mind." He said, rising from his seat.

"Very well. Then I'll warn Niles."

"And I'll go warn General Tello to stay put and wait for us. I'd tell him what we do, but there's a genuine chance that the Hoshidans could catch our letter… And if we told him of our plan to sneak into a crystal ball and sneak across the land of the Kitsune, I think that he'd think that we haven't quite shaken off the, erm, ambiance of Izumo." Both men rose from their seats and headed out, leaving Camilla and Corrin alone.

"I should go talk to Shura."

"Oh, good idea! And as for me, I'll go tell my retainer about this! Oh, she'll be glad to be working with you for sure! I'm so glad that you and her have been able to hit it off!" She leaned in slightly. "Pray tell though, I've got an urgent question!"

"Well, do tell it?"

"Goodie! Corrin, how attracted are you to my dear Beruka?" At that question, Corrin nearly jumped from his seat, his face turning beet red. Camilla chuckled softly. "That's a yes, in my opinion;"

"W-well, I could just be shocked by that question! But… yes." He glanced at the closed door. "But since we're in a war, I don't think that I should try and tell her now. She's a serious woman and all, so she probably won't entertain romance while we have to deal with this crazy stuff."

"Ah, that's a good point. A shame, because I can swear that she acts different around you." She said. "I've known her for about a decade now, so trust me when I say this."

"I-I know. And I'd very much like to act on it, but there's the whole war business, as I said." He stammered. "L-love can't bloom on the battlefield, right?"

"Well, I think it can! People fall in love when they do something together. Like knitting, fishing, running, slaughtering hordes of eastern barbarians out to crush our precious country, dining… Ahhh, the pleasure of love." Camilla moved away. "Don't worry, I won't be telling her this. But I might try to set you up once this silly little spat reaches its end. You're just cute together! Really!"

"T-thanks!" Said Corrin, eager to have the conversation end. "And… and by the way, erm, thank you for being gracious about it."

"Oh? Ohohohoh, I'm furious about this! When you'll get your wedding cake, I might just pop out of it and attack her!"

"It's a bit early to talk about wedd-And it's not funny to say that either!" Said Corrin, gathering all the indignation he could muster. Camilla laughed, unconcerned by that. "Sse-see you around Camilla."

"See you around, my cute little brother!"

Once she left, Corrin sighed and then followed her out of the wagon…

…

Shura was present in the castle within the crystal, feasting upon some steaks in the restaurant. Corrin observed him from his spot, having elected to sneak in, and coughed politely once. When that failed to make any effect, he coughed again, and this time, Shura reacted on time.

"Why'd you cough in my fa-Oh, Corrin!" He said, laughing amusedly. "Ya could have just tapped me on the shoulder instead of just coughing milord."

"Yeah… But well, I got your attention." Said the young man, with a polite smile. He sat down at the table as well. No one was occupying it, owing to Shura still being, in their eyes, a pirate. His origin as a shinobi also didn't do wonder for his reputation. Kohga was quite different from Hoshido, but in the eyes of the Nohrians, all ninjas (and, in some cases, the countries they hailed from) were interchangeable. Just faceless mooks trained to kill Nohrians at birth, treated by their sadistic masters like actual weapons to be sharpened in preparation for war.

Shura ate a lot of the food on his plate, burped (though he was polite enough to cover his mouth), and stretched his arms. "Well, what can I do for you my lord? If it's for the boots, they ain't for sale. Sorry about that."

"The boots are good but I'm looking for their owner." He said. "I may need you to accomplish an escort mission. Success during it could ensure an important Nohrian victory."

The outlaw stared flatly at Corrin. "Heh, trusting me with such an important job? I appreciate it, but are ya sure that the other royals are fine with having some low-life like me be tasked with such a mission?"

"Well, you've proven yourself loyal. And there's going to be Beruka and Niles." Shura grunted at the mention of these two.

"Well I'll be in a pleasant company… Well, let's talk about this somewhere else. I need to talk a walk after eating this much."

Corrin agreed, and both men left the building. Admittedly, Corrin wished he'd have said yes, and tapped his thigh rather anxiously, but he wouldn't want to force his soldiers and throw his weight around. It'd feel Iago-ish of him after all. He sure wished that Shura would stop taking the time to put a straw into his mouth before speaking up though.

"Yeah. I'll do it." Said Shura. Corrin stopped all of a sudden, having expected some lengthy conversation to happen in its stead, but got a hold of himself.

"Wonderful news! I'm glad you accepted so quickly!"

"Well, it's not like I can say no, right? In Kohga, obedience towards a worthy superior is a virtue. I mean, sure, knock down your superior if they're being an ass or incompetent, but otherwise, you're going to say "yes" with as much enthusiasm as you can… Even if they're asking you to scrub their toilet clean. Heh." Said Shura. Then, he pointed at Corrin's hand. "Oh, and you were kind of losing your patience, no? I noticed it."

Corrin immediately rose his hands and folded his arms over his chest, in an attempt to stop it. Shura chuckled and stroked his chin. "Heh, telltale signs. You're going to start to look for them in the business… Anyway, I still wanna ask, why me? Why not the Hoshidan guy, Kaze? He knows the region and pathways."

"Yes, I was thinking about him as well. But I don't think the others fully trust him. I mean, consider our position. We'd be close to a huge Hoshidan army and we'd all be in some easily captured crystal balls. Kaze has been a reliable friend and has fought alongside us throughout the war with devotion… whentheylefthimoutofhischales but it's a tall order."

"Heh, make sense. I'm surprised you even recruited him. Hoshidan ninjas are taught that the country's all that matter. Deflectors are forever scorned." Said Shura.

"As for you, well, you probably know the Kitsune, right?"

"Yeah. Eccentric buggers but they'll rip out a man's throat before he can draw his sword. We're crossing their territory, right?"

"Yes. Well, since you operated in Eastern Dreiz, you probably know your way around them, right? You've sneaked around their forests in the past."

"Well, most of the time, no. The best tip to survive the Kitsune is not to enter their home, flat-out. But you're right that I had to enter it a few times, to fend off pursuers and the likes. They're deadly, for sure, but I know how they act." He smirked. "The thing with all those long-lived species is that they rarely change their habits, you know? They always patrol the same way, stick to the same place... If those assholes wanted to, they'd probably be the leading population of the world, instead of having to concede so much territory to us mayflies."

"Yeah… I heard that they're long-lived. But are you sure that they won't be changing their habits with patrolling? There's an army close to their territory after all."

"Wise point, but I know what we should do. We've got the right number of people to accompany you and any of the people you've picked are stealthy enough to do the job… The concern being, are you stealthy enough?" The ninja pointed right at Corrin. "Armor isn't great to sneak around and you're not used to stealth missions, aren't you?"

"N-no… But since I have those abilities, I thought I could more easily survive an offensive by the Kitsune."

"Good point… But be careful. You'll follow my lead, or the murder lady's." He said, smiling. "After all, you and my little retainer seem to be in touch."

Corrin grimaced. "Y-yes. Anyway, I'm glad to learn about this. I'm going to report this to the others quickly. We might need to move out soon-enough, since we're going to need to put everyone into the crystal first. Or, well, half of everyone. Still a huge number."

"Yeah. Well, good luck kid. I'm going to prepare myself for Kitsune country." Shura tugged at his cape. "I won't let some stupid fox kill me, that's for sure."

"Glad to hear that!"

…

Goemon's trap was a small narrow cliff, ideal for a bottleneck strategy. In the past, the famed thief and his men would climb on the cliff before rolling down huge rocks to block the way of some of the greedy merchants and, in some of the less charitable retellings, crush their bodyguards. They'd then jump unto the traveling merchants before stealing their gold and wares. Goemon, in all versions, knew that merchants of lesser status passed through though, and rolled up the rocks that he used, with particularly glorious myths explaining that while his entire gang would push a rock back where it belonged, Goemon would be able to do it all by himself, and would do it fast enough to assist his men.

The thief was eventually caught and sentenced to death, via being boiled alive along with his accomplices. The Nohrians would perhaps not have such a… fancy manner to succumb, but today, a lot of them would join the thief in oblivion throughout the attack. The gorge was too narrow for the soldiers to easily progress in, and projectiles of various kinds, magical or not, would easily reach the soldiers. Attacks from above would circumvent the powerful defenses put forth by the attacking army, and ninjas would harass the backlines and pick off the scant survivors. Even after breaking past all of these, then the Nohrians would find themselves facing thousands of skilled Hoshidans, who'd swarm them with numbers and who would could very well further set up traps to thin out the offense just a bit more.

"And that's all for now." Said General Tello, after pointing at the map. "They outnumber us by a lot, they know the battleground, they had the time to set up traps, they know exactly who we could deploy… Luckily, it appears that none of the royals are amongst the army." Said the bald man, sighing. "We'd be in even deeper trouble if they were."

"I see… General Tello. Do we have an estimate for the number of lives that we'd lose trying to take over?"

"We're going to need a hundred graves at least." He replied, dryly. "We can break through if we pull out all the stops, but that's what these bastards want. For us to tire out when we're just at the gates, and then wear us down before we're even close to Suzanoh."

The royals and Tello stood at a tent, close to the gorge. The Nohrian squads were slowly regrouping near the gorge, in anticipation for the coming battle. It was the first "important" battle of the War. A touchstone in the conflict that would determine which country would hold the upper hand. Nohr fails, and they will run out of steam, allowing Hoshido to come down on their rivals with the power of a sledgehammer and successfully stop the invasion. Deprived of several elites, it would then become easy for Nohr to fall into chaos or eventually collapse.

Nohr break-in and they will be free to cruise through the country and go farther than all the other invaders in the history of Hoshido and mark a very important event in the story of the war.

"Are there other ways to break in?" Asked Elise, sheepishly.

"Unfortunately not. There's a whole bunch of traps that they built in anticipation of an invasion. Goemon's Trap is the easiest way in… So, Prince Xander, with all due respect for the royal family of course, what do you propose we could do to break past that wall?"

"My young brother, Corrin, has access to an orb of a sort. It can fit in a good number of soldiers." Said Xander. Tello looked doubtful initially, but then realized that his prince probably wasn't kidding and, out of respect for his prince, chose not to speak up. He carefully folded his arms instead. "We will sneak soldiers within the orb, and sneak past though the Kitsune woods. Once we'll be in a good position, we're going to attack them from behind. This will certainly spread confusion and allow your attack to go through smoothly."

"Hm… I believe you." Said Tello, after taking some time to consider his opinions. "It's admittedly far-fetched, but members of Prince Corrin's army did show up in Macarath even when they were supposed to be kilometers away from it. I guess I'll trust that orb." He said. "We will need to launch an attack at the same time though. Even with all five royals gathered and the advantage of surprise, taking out a thousand soldiers on your own will be costly."

"Agreed." Said Xander. "We may need a signal of a sort…Though I guess that the sound of a charging army will do nicely."

Tello chuckled a little. "Well, true. We won't attack immediately to give you the time to go around them, milord." He said. "We are planning on easing our burdens by sending some men to disable traps and kill the scouts. I doubt that we'll be able to eliminate them all, but it will make it easier for us."

"You're right." Said Leo. "We do have an Hoshidan defector amongst us. If you wish, he could help you hunt for the scouts. Fear not, we've placed a spell upon him to ensure that he will not attempt to betray us."

"A defector?" Said Tello. Leo nodded.

"A ninja, more precisely."

"How curious. I was led to believe that they would never switch sides… Well, I will have to assume that Lord Corrin has chosen the right words. When will you be deployed? It will take us quite some time to be optimally deployed for such a large scale conflict, and for you to enter the orb." He paused, minding just how ridiculous the statement was. "It will take us minutes to cross the gorge but if you manage to disable the archers and mages in time, our fliers will be able to immediately provide some support. And if we're successful in removing the scouts, we could move some soldiers forwards so that they'll be able to come and assist you faster."

"We appreciate it, sir. I'd also like to make it known that I can feel a dragon vein in the area. Should we happen to find it, we'll trigger it."

"Of course… But I may ask. What about the Kitsune? They're dangerous and crafty."

"We will have Corrin and some hand-picked elite soldiers accompany him. The Kitsune are powerful fighters but our brother has gone toe-to-toe with Hoshidan royals on several occasions, and as you can see, has lived to tell the tale."

"Oh yes. I heard that. You went at it against Lord Ryoma himself, the rumors say."

Corrin, who was looking absent until now, turned to finally acknowledge Tello's presence. Few could miss such a large man, especially one clad in an armored uniform almost comparable to what one of the heavier armored units would wear, but the severity of the current situation and their rather unorthodox solution had distracted him for a moment. Aware that he was being quite rude in doing this, Corrin turned towards the general. "W-well, it was nothing." He said.

"Fighting the high prince of Hoshido is nothing? Haha! You've got guts! Saving Macarath fully convinced me of how much of a Nohrian hero you, milord! Anyway! We better prepare up!"

"Good. We put the soldiers into the orb already, so it won't take long. May we live to see the sunrise on a Nohrian flag on Hoshidan soil, general Tello."

"May we all bury it in."

…

Beruka awaited outside of the tent with Niles and Shura, leaning against a wooden structure with her arms folded, in ignorance of what the two men nearby were talking about.

"You look like you could get hurt doing something like this, old man." Said Niles, glancing down at Shura and smirking. "Please, don't start to complain about your medications halfway through. It'd be embarrassing."

"Hmph. I'd say that you're about to see an actual pro step into action and show you how we do things compared to a slum rat, but I fear that you won't be able to see it." Said Shura, before tapping his eye. Surprisingly enough, Niles showed some actual irritation at the insult, but cooled off quickly enough.

"Oh, the actual pro who got caught by the entire army? Oh, I'm certainly not going to see it to spare you the embarrassment, old man."

"Pft. If it weren't for Lord Corrin, I would've walked out of that one." Boasted Shura. "So don't get all cocky."

"Please, you would've slipped on something and your neck would've snapped eventually."

"Asshole."

"Dumbass."

"Cyclops."

Corrin entered the scene in time, noticing that most of the soldiers in the camp were rather urgently avoiding the two men. The confused young man, having perhaps heard the discussion, coughed rather harshly. Shura turned around and sighed.

"What did I tell you about tapping on my shoulder?"

"Please, a mere tap and your shoulder would end up all broken."

"Pfttt, yeah, and even with that broken shoulder, I'd still do a better job than you."

Beruka took two steps forwards, and the two men decided to back down for now. Hiding her little triumphant smile, she looked up at Corrin. "I assume that they are all within the orb?"

"Ye-yeah." Said Corrin. He was dressed to sneak around, and Beruka was pleased to know that he listened to her little advice, since he wore dark blue colors and wore nothing else on his outfit. The only part that bothered her was the sword, but she guessed that he'd feel safer with Shadow Yato on, so she decided not to bother him. The outfit itself was boring but practical, merely consisting of a rather skin-tight shirt, a regular pair of pants, some gloves, and boots. Everyone else was on a fairly similar level of practicality.

"Good. We should go now. It will take us a while to do our job, and even more to properly finish it. It's not something we can do at the last second."

"Aw c'mon, there's excitation in doing something at the last minute. We're going to witness the bloody beginning of the battle as we desperately attempt to finish what we started, and in the heat of the moment, when all is lost, finally we'll…"

"Shut up."

"Fair, Beruka."

…

Upon arriving at the edge of the woods, the esoteric little group turned towards the chief of the group of "Rat Catchers" in charge of preventing ninjas from sneaking in, a tall person clad in a dark robe, with naught but a black bird mask on their face. The magician, upon noticing the arrival of the nearby infiltration agents, raised his hands and two cronies of his opened the barrier slightly, allowing the four of them to pass along smoothly.

"Good luck. And let the blood that will feed the trees of this land belong to Hoshidans."

"… Yah, good night to ya too." Said Shura.

The "woods" of the Kitsune was an odd world. It was teeming with life but it somehow felt unwelcoming towards the small group as they entered. When they stepped within the darkness, being barely lit by the moonlights or the nearby fireflies (pretty as they were though, it was poor lightning), they felt like children stepping into that room of the household that had always been locked until now.

From the edge of their vision, they could see one or two shadows. Or at least, they hoped those were only shadows.

"Alright. Follow my lead." Said Shura. "I want to warn you. With the gathering armies, the Kitsune may be more on guard. They're certainly going to notice them happening. We may not see 'em early in the trip, and near the end, but in the middle, things may get dicey."

"Alright," Beruka whispered, and the group quickly settled out, following Shura's trails. Corrin glanced at the forest life now and then, but Beruka, who decided to get behind him, was always quick to bring him back to the reality of things with a quick tap to the shoulders.

"Concentrate." She whispered once.

"Hm… Yeah, they're definitely on the lookout." Noticed Niles right afterward, glancing upwards. Corrin dared to sneak a peek at where he was looking, and while he didn't stop, he nearly let out a sigh, only being stopped when Beruka put her mouth on his hand. Up above, near the survivors, stood a tree. Human skulls had been stabbed into its branches, and there were enough of them to cover a fair amount of the branches in each case.

"Whoah…"

"Heh. Kitsunes are nasty things." Said Shura, smiling. "Quite honestly, I'm fearing them more than the thousand bloodthirsty Hoshidans in front of us." He quipped.

Niles simply put his finger on his chin.

"I find that quite artistic in fact. It's a nice deco-"

"Shut up. Move up."

"Yes ma'am."

…

N/A: Heyoh! A bit of a filler chapter after the wild ride, but the Kitsune chapter will be short! I hope that Kaden's fans won't mind his appearance though, because it miighhtt not be glorious!

Here's your Takumi and Corrin meeting, with the scene that Romeo and some of you guys must've been waiting for!

Things are going along nicely for now. Leave reviews and the likes, because I love 'em!

See ya!


	29. The great Nohrian offensive

The Kitsune Hamlet was a beautiful forest, full of life and vegetation the likes of which Corrin had never seen before, but it was also a thoroughly eerie place. While he could see ahead of him thanks to the moon and the woods themselves weren't creepy, he, and the others very likely, felt a spine crawl down his chill as he advanced deeper into the forest, and he sometimes swore that he could see other beings looking at him.

The ambiance caused Niles, usually the flippant one, to shut up for once, and even Shura looked deadly serious, giving out his orders via hurried whispers and looking everywhere around him to spot intruders. The slightest noise that they made felt like it made about as much noise as a volcanic eruption, and Corrin grasped his sword to try to prevent the metal from making any noises. He didn't need to hold unto the orb since it was in a small bag strapped on his back, so he could use his other hand whenever he needed it. Luckily, so far, their path involved merely walking through the woods, so he didn't need to do anything that'd require his two hands, or even a morphing.

Then, Corrin heard some sounds ahead and decided to raise his hand slightly, having seen Shura do it. Luckily, the outlaw noticed it, and the entire group stopped ahead to glance at the prince. "I… I'm hearing some noises in front of us, like people running." He said.

"Hm, you do? Nice ears." Complimented Shura. "In what direction exactly?"

"A bit to the right."

"Alright, let's head left. If it's getting any closer, warn us."

Corrin smiled slightly, glad at being of use, and the group continued their little direction. He could hear the sound above, but faintly, so it must be occurring pretty far ahead. He could hear multiple footsteps, indicating that it was probably a chase of a sort. He wondered who could be making those noises, but he guessed that those were Kitsune.

More of the weird trees awaited them, but he ignored them, though it was hard for him to do so. Most of the skulls belonged to people who probably got lost or who genuinely had no idea that the Kitsune could ever get so dangerous. Sure, perhaps a few were poachers who wanted to acquire their hides, but… Ah, it was unwise to get lost in thoughts when he needed to spare that much brainpower to focus on whatever was happening to him.

He could hear, in the distance, the footsteps get much closer, prompting him to raise his hand again. "They're getting closer."

"Duck."

The group instantly got on their bellies and crawled into the nearest shadows, hoping to trick the patrolling foes that would be passing over them. They were close to a small open field, being only separated from it via a bunch of brushes. Corrin turned to glance through them, noticing that the sounds were coming out of it, and almost gasped in horror when a bloodied ninja burst into the field, weakly holding a broken arm. Blood was gushing out of two large bites wounds on her shoulder and face, and her armor and mask were both thoroughly tattered. She was running towards the Nohrian's location, perhaps hoping to hide in the bushes. Shura left out some colorful language, but neither he nor Niles readied their bows. Their position was far from optimal, after all, and both knew that the woman would not be reaching their position anyway.

The woman yelled some Hoshidan words, that Corrin translated as pleads for mercy, but the black figure that emerged out of the woods with the swiftness of the wind did not care to hear her out, and slammed into her quite harshly, toppling her and causing her to fall forward painfully. The moonlight revealed the aggressor to be a fox, though it was quite larger than the average member of that species and had a different fur, along with a much larger tail. Without any hesitation, the fox bite into the woman's throat and tore a huge chunk of it, killing her immediately. Victorious, the Kitsune howled at the moon and promptly left.

"It just killed her…"

"Who cares? We're going to do that to a lot more Hoshidans. Come on, better not get sniffed out."

The group departed, crawling on their stomachs to be safe. On the way out, another Kitsune came to drag the woman away. It failed to notice the rest of the group as well and went back the same way as the other. Corrin tried to peer at the presence of any light, but realized that this would slow the group down and decided to continue, heading down a long path.

The deeper they got in, the more wildlife appeared, seemingly not scared of the humans.

"What were those Hoshidans even doing here?"

"Probably trying to ensure that we wouldn't try to do what we're doing." Said Shura. "And the Kitsune are unwittingly helping us out."

"I see… It makes sense. But I thought that they'd know how to avoid them."

"They do. But the Kitsune are on the warpath with our little spat, and the Hoshidans somehow didn't figure that out. It's good for us that this woman died. Now, let's just continue sneaking around, or else you're going to join her pretty soon."

Corrin nodded to Niles. The deeper they got in, the more they could see more troubling signs of what the Kitsune did to intruders, such as armored carts devoid of people, with a skeleton sitting at the driver seat in a morbid mockery of life. This failed to upset the team bar the prince. Just how bad were things with humans if the Kitsune hated them this much? Would they be joining them? The prince knew that his teammates were quite strong, and he could become a full-on dragon, but their little intimidation tactics were slowly getting to him.

"Don't panic." Said Beruka. "We should be halfway there."

"Yeah. It's the hardest part but we're close to getting out of those parts. It'll be smooth sailing." Shura whispered. "And we'll be able to go back to our favorite little hobby."

"And leave those barbaric Kitsune behind while we forge a trail of blood and death through the country." Said Niles. He perhaps aimed to make Corrin relax, or simply wished to annoy him, so the prince kind of huffed a bit faster than usual. He could appreciate the attempt, perhaps. He then retrieved part of his cool and continued to explore the forest with the others.

On the way, Shura stopped and pointed at a little hole in the wall. Niles sighed. "For the love of… a burrow." He said.

"Let's get away from it immediately before the parents come in."

Corrin wondered how cute baby Kitsune looked like, but an attempt to inspect on the pups would be ill-advised, so he followed the group along. However, before he could turn around, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Confused, the prince turned around to glance at Beruka, silently addressing her with a nod… and widening his eyes in disbelief when his question was met with a quizzical stare.

"Why did you tap me on the shoulder?"

"… I didn't." Said Beruka.

"Shit." Concluded Shura, fittingly. Before the Nohrians could react, several figures swooped in, descending upon them like an eagle upon a weak prey and very quickly surrounding them. Shura and Niles were quickly caught, but Corrin was swift enough to leap out of the way, though several more attackers leaped out of nowhere to pin him down on the ground. As he slammed into the ground, quite easily shrugging off the impact with damp grass despite everything, he couldn't help but wince. The orb was quite solid, but he wondered if the shock would be felt by the people inside.

Beruka was also quick enough to get out of the way, leaning out of an attack meant to seize her. In doing so though, she walked right into another human Kitsune, who quickly got a hold of her and wrapped his left arm around her neck. His freed hand, he held it up to her face, particularly the long, nasty claws on it. They were more akin to dagger than actual claws, and she could see her face reflected on them as the hybrid chuckled.

"Don't make a sudden move." He warned. "Or your lady friend and that… odd man bites it!"

Coming in last, a fox, larger than even the specimen that saw murdering the woman, leaped out of the dark, transforming into a man midway through his little leap and making a skillful landing on his feet. He looked rather… unintimidating when out of his fox form, and his face couldn't quite convey the fear that he meant to instill in his victims. From Corrin's opinion, he looked like a fun-loving guy placed in the worst context. From Beruka's opinion, he just looked like a fool.

Whereas his goons wrapped themselves in cloths, he wore more relaxed clothing and didn't see the need to cover his face. He didn't look like their leader at all.

"Hey there." He greeted. "Name's Kaden! Sorry for the rude interruption to your little nightly trips, folks!" He scratched one of his animal-like ears. That, and the tail, showed his true origin even when he had a human form. "But we're going to have to put a stop to it! Annddd probably your lives, sorry about that one!"

Shura seemed to grimly accept his fate, sweating a little as the Kitsune surrounded him. Niles, meanwhile, looked ready to try his luck but stopped when he saw some transformed foxes in the darkness, patiently waiting to pounce on their targets. Niles, Shura, and Beruka were all quite formidable warriors, but not even they could fend off such a large amount of hybrids. The archer didn't quite put his hands up, since he knew that he'd be killed regardless, but he seemed to be thinking rather intensely about his next move.

Beruka, for herself, kept her cool, even when the fox-man seemingly attempted to try to cause her to panic by slowly getting his claw closer and closer to her face. Kaden looked at her in awe, and then at Corrin. "Whoah, your lady friend is pretty impressive! The other soldiers up to that point all screamed… Hey, are you Nohrians?"

"Y-yeah." Said Shura. "They all hail from Nohr, you know it?"

Kaden sighed and began to walk around, tail swaying in the air. "Well, duh! I mean, I've been alive for 680 years, I know a bit about them both! You know, I was even around to see Nohr before all the nonsense with that invading country!" He said. "It had pretty nice places. Nohr nowadays is just so cold! I feel like my tail is just shedding whenever I step into it. It always does so, right when I-"

"Milord." Spoke a soldier.

"Right, right. Well, folks, I've been traveling the world for a while and I know of your war. I also know that it's getting close to our little hamlet!" He said. "So, you gotta understand, we're being a little cautious! Lots of humans who are trying to sneak through the forest at night." He sighed. "You're pretty sneaky though. Took us a while to get your scent!"

"We don't want your kind any trouble, sir Kaden." Said Corrin. "We're not dragging the war to your hamlet, we will settle the conflict and move away."

"Oh, that's a bit naïve of you, unknown mister with the weird blue hair! Battles spread! And there's a huge battle coming! Lots of projectiles and arrows and maces and… you know crashing right into our little forest home. It harms the wildlife, it eats on our available territory and it causes all kinds of damage that the forest will take ages to recover from!"

"I know, I know! But… we'll help with that if we can."

Ever single Kitsune laughed rather loudly at that statement, and Corrin bit his lips. "Help? Nohrians would help us? Oh boy, did you trade your brain for those funky ears, mister? Nohrians have always been war-like, but ever since the old war, oh boy! They've been attacking a lot with those ugly creatures of them, and a lot of them just wander into our Hamlet!" He lost his chumminess a little and walked up to Corrin, kneeling in front of them. "If Nohr could even repair stuff, instead of destroying or acquiring it, I'd maybe consider your offer… But I know for a fact that you humans are all a bunch of savages, anyway. You've been breaching into our domain just to get our fur." Kaden moved to stroke his tail. "You're sounding nice for now, because you're in danger, but if we let you go, oh boy, you're going to sound very different when you come back with torches and those ugly spears meant to kill us. I mean, you're not human, but heh, close enough."

"Well, I'm being genuinely nice." Said Corrin. "Please, let me go or I'll be forced to defeat you."

They laughed, again, but Kaden interrupted it. "You're not in danger, heh? Confident for a… what are you? I think Manakete? Hey, are you a Manakete?"

"I don't even know what that is."

"Heh. I'll check later. Kill the girl, Tsukumoto."

Tsukumoto snarled and began to cut into Beruka's cheek, digging the claw into her cheek and slowly began to carve a wound into it. Seeing this, Corrin's eyes widened a little and he began to get up. Seeing this, some of the Kitsune pressed down on him with all their available might… and yet failed all the same. The combined weight of about eight of them was, for the young man, seemingly equal to that of a feather and he easily got on his feet, knocking over all the Kitsune.

Seeing this, "Tsukumoto", as he was called, stopped his little act, too shocked to react, and Beruka reacted, bashing him in the ribs with her elbow and then turning around to smash him in the nose and jaw with her palm. He confusedly swiped at her with his claw, but she grabbed his arm and quickly broke it with a vicious attack with her knee. The hybrid screamed, but was cut off halfway through his screech by a punch to the head, sending him off into the dreamland.

Shura was a bit more straightforward, and just grabbed two of the hybrids before bonking their heads together, knocking them out easily. Niles went for a simpler attack and swept aside his attackers with a mighty kick, mounting forth a surprising amount of physical strength to topple his attackers. Their enemies out of the way, both archers headed for Beruka, to try and form a united front against more attacks. Kaden, observing his companion's defeat, howled, causing his transformed goons to step into the scene, baring their large fangs and claws while menacingly approaching the intruders who dared to thread on their sacred ground and, even worse, attacked their allies.

"We still outnumber you! Don't think that knocking out a bunch of us is going to get the rest of back down! We've been standing up to humans like you for centuries!" He said. The leader of the bunch moved his hand to swipe a stone and held it up. "And we-"

Whatever boast he meant to say never quite got through, thanks to a rather surprising punch to the jaw. Corrin lunged forward and, without allowing Kaden the slightest chance to react, simply decked him across the jaw. The eccentric hybrid stood still, with a look of utter confusion in his face, and fell over, though the prince was gentle enough to grab his hand to prevent him from falling into the grass in an undignified manner. Seeing this, the transformed soldiers quickly lost interested in three normal humans, and turned towards the prince, though his easy victory over their leader (even untransformed) worried them to an extent, as attested by their stance.

"Yeah. I'm a dragon." To demonstrate, Corrin grew some black wings and agitated them a little. Luckily for him, there was just enough space for them to deploy at the very least. "And that means that I can spit fire if I'm angry. You wouldn't want me to do that, right?" While the Kitsune didn't respond, they took his threat rather seriously, taking two to three steps backward. "Good response. If you cross me or my friends again, I'm going to take my full dragon form and… burn down the forest. So you better be careful and get out of the way, alright?"

One Kitsune found her courage and took three steps closer. "L-liar! You wouldn't…"

"Do you want to bet on that?" He said, putting forth a very impressive sneer. "Heh… Maybe I'm too harsh. As long-lived as you are, Manaketes like me must be rare, right? You probably never got to see one in action. Well, fear not. I'm just going to assume my dragon form! And you'll see for yourself just how real my threats are!" As he said that, he began to morph a helmet over his head, as if he was about to transform without a stone.

"N-no! Wait! We'll leave you alone!" Pleaded a younger Kitsune. "Please, we… we never meant to anger you, oh great dragon! Allow us to recover our wounded and we'll get out of the way!"

"Good." Said Corrin, before sweeping his hand at the ground. "You may get that trash out of my sight. Do not attempt to do something like warn Hoshido of my presence, by the way. You don't want to get on my bad side, right?"

"Y-yes! Hey, give me a hand!"

The transformed foxes quickly grabbed their unconscious companions and fled the area, yelping while doing so. Corrin, who stood with his arms folded over his chest, waited for them to be gone (and used his hearing to make sure that they were gone) before dropping his persona to quickly run over his allies. "Oh god!" He said. "Are you alright? I'm so sorry, I…" To his surprise, the Nohrians (and Kohgajin) seemed more surprised over his acting than anything else.

"Well, kid. If that prince business doesn't quite work out for you, there are a few theaters that'd love ya." Whispered Shura, though he glanced away to ensure that they wouldn't listen. "Good job getting rid of that canine trash, Lord Corrin!" He then said, much more loudly.

"You really ought to talk like this to me sometimes, I felt shivers down my spine, you know?" Said Niles. Seeing Shura's little act, the outlaw decided to join in. "Oh Lord Corrin, if those foolish soldiers come back, please don't crush or burn them all! My curtain made out of human skin need a fitting companion."

"T-thanks?" He said, before looking at Beruka. When he noticed the gash on her face, he gasped. However, the stoic assassin simply plucked a vulnerary out of her pocket and downed it. The life-granting magic within made its action, healing her wound, though it was deep enough to leave a small scar behind. "I'm sorry, they harmed you because I…"

"No. Don't worry. You dealt with this situation rather exceptionally. I'm proud of you, Corrin." She admitted. He stared at her, not knowing what to do, and she just smiled a little at him. After a few seconds of this, Shura decided to tap the young man on the shoulder.

"See? Tapping works better than coughing. Anyhow, I hate spoiling a scene but there's a thousand goons with bows, swords, maces, and the likes at hand so I'd rather move in."

"R-right." Said Corrin. He couldn't help but feel a bit elated over the praise, and just how… powerful he was when he negotiated with the Kitsune. He felt bad for threatening their home but it scared them away enough for them to leave immediately, without wondering why a dragon with such power would feel the need to sneak around an army or attempt a suicidal last charge to protect their home.

In a way, he felt good because he wasn't being the one trashed for once. It was… cathartic, yeah, he felt catharsis over being yet again at the winning end of both a fight and the following discussion. The subsequent praises also more than reflected upon the young prince. The timid answer to the approval of his companions (and especially Beruka's) was naught but a lie. Inside, he felt like buffing his chest before hitting it as hard as he could, accompanying the sentence with an "Of course!" that'd make shockwaves across the forest.

The group began to get going again, but Shura upped the pace significantly, navigating across the woods with his little posse with much more swiftness than before. With that level of speed, and with the defeat of the Kitsune, the dreadful mystic of the hamlet had all but vanished, and while the Kitsune's skull "constructs" and other intimidations tools were present, he didn't feel scared at all over them anymore. Perhaps because he laid flat the strongest of them with a single attack and single-handedly convinced the rest to leave his friends alone? The sugar sweetness of victory made him feel like he could take on anything.

If Ryoma, out of nowhere, emerged out of a bush with his sword in hand, Corrin wouldn't feel the slightest fear and would even happily engage him in battle.

"Why are we picking up the pace?"

"We're only doing that for a few minutes. We got to make up for that lost time with the fox men." Said Shura. "And since they've been scared of, for now, it's wise to use that to our advantage by leaving as fast as we can. If they even get the guts to come at us again, we'll be long gone by the time they return."

"Yeap. But we will need to speed down eventually. Remember that Hoshidan ninja? They probably sent a whole bunch of scouts just in case we Nohrians were crazy enough to try to flank them from the hamlets. Sure, the Kitsune won't discriminate on who they kill, but if a single ninja spots us and make it back, things could get a bit complicated. And while we did good fending these freaks off, well, now that they've retreated, the Hoshidans folks are going to have an easier time getting deeper into the forest."

"Perhaps, Niles. Corrin, use your enhanced senses to try and spot any Hoshidan saboteur. Warn us if a ninja is coming. If they spot us, they will certainly be on the look-out, and deploying the army will be harder."

"Don't get yourself all fired up now." Warned Shura, he slowly slowed his pace, after having run for a couple more minutes than before. "We were deep into Kitsune territory for that one. Hoshidans usually avoid that one, so there shouldn't be any of those deep into the forest. And if they are, well, they're probably being chased by the Kitsune, so no need to worry." He said. "We're out of that area soon though." He pointed forward. "We haven't seen those vehicles with the charming skeleton drivers for a while, haven't we?"

"Do they even have villages down there?" Asked Corrin.

"Probably. But nobody even got close enough to figure it out. Anyway, it was fun, but how about we cut on the chatter? Going by my previous experiences, we should be getting close to a point where we can start to unsummon people. The battle's going to start soon."

"Right."

As they sneaked more and more into the territory, their eyes sometimes glanced at lights in the distance, way past the tree line. Corrin, thanks to his eyes, could vaguely perceive campfires and even some figures around it.

"We're close." Said Shura. "Bit too much."

The group continued onwards. The vehicles with the skeletons were long gone by now, and the Kitsune was a memory from that point. The actual threat? Whatever Hoshidan scouts with the bravery to wade into the forest. Corrin couldn't identify footsteps other than their own though, and as they moved furthermore, the camps themselves vanished from sight, leaving them alone with nature once more.

Hours passed, and boredom settled in enough for Niles to casually reach for a plant. He briefly caressed it, causing Shura to swear slightly and turn around. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Calm down, old man." He said. "It's a moment of weakness. I'm not used to seeing a plant that's not either withering away, aggressive, or struggling to live away." Niles continued. "Forests like this are impossible back home."

"That's sad to hear," Shura said quickly enough. "But we've got to move quickly. There might be traps, it might be some kind of Hoshidan plant that poison you if you touch it, don't touch the stuff unless it's in your way and you can't find an easier way through!"

Niles turned around. "Hey, Beruka, take my side here." He whispered. "Forests like these are an impossibility back home. Isn't it unusual to wade through one like these."

"… I never took you for someone who takes an interest in nature." Said Beruka.

"Hey, I'm a man of many faces." Retorted the one-eyed outlaw.

"Yes. Regardless, focus on the mission. That forest we're wading through is secondary to that objective. Do not make Lord Corrin regret his decision to hire you for this task."

Niles sighed, and Corrin just wondered how Beruka and the others felt about it. Many of the Nohrians in the army grew up in the slums but those who didn't also rarely got to see a forest like that or even walk into it. They suppressed their desire to wade into it because of their assigned task at the times, but he wondered how many Nohrians would be going back home once the business with Hoshido would reach its end. Few would run back to the blight lands of their old home so eagerly after all, when they could simply get a house within much greener pastures.

He wondered what Nohr would look like after this. Would it still be a poisoned country or would they be able to dig deep within Hoshido's library to try to get magic that could be directly combined with Nohrian spells to reverse the curse? Corrin hoped that they'd be able to do so. There were plenty of things to fix in Nohr, and while the nobles were a big obstacle, making the dusk country a place where people can live without needing to hide behind huge walls was a priority.

He contemplated asking the others what they'd think of that but, aware that they still ha a mission to undertake, he opted not to say anything for now and continued on his little journey. Eventually, the black sky above slowly began to find an orange color as the sun rose on the horizon. After looking up, the rest of the group sighed slowly. "It'll be a battle by dawn, right? We don't have much time. Corrin, is there a place that'd be wide enough for our group to emerge? We're also going to need everyone inside to be prepared. A group this size, we can't just hide it in the forest. I'm going to need everyone to go once we're set."

"Got it." Beruka simply opened Corrin's little bag and extracted the orb. Luckily enough, it hadn't been damaged by the Kitsune's jumping attack on them. The assassin sighed a little in relief. "I'm going to enter it to warn them and ensure full availability. Find a place in the span of… ten minutes. The battle will start soon, after all."

"Right. Well, better hope that those guys didn't get lazy inside. Mobilizing an army in ten minutes is a pipe dream."

"I'm aware of that." Replied Beruka, coldly, before entering the orb.

Once inside, Beruka came face to face with a rows of sharp spears all pointed at her, though they lowered greatly upon noticing that it was, in fact, none other than the stoic assassin. To her agreeable surprise, it seemed that the army was ready.

"Beruka?" Said Xander. "I assume that the time to deploy is now?"

"Yes. In accordance with the schedule. Though I've given them about ten minutes to find an open space where we could come out easily." She said, unfazed by the army in front of her. A lot of the soldiers were standing at the side but some had been relocated to the walls or inside of buildings to make proper space. Even then, the realm was obviously as its limits with the sheer numbers of soldiers. Adding just one more soldier to it would probably make the palace collapse or something ludicrous. One could speak greatly of the Nohrian discipline when it allowed the soldiers to hold this kind of stance for hours, especially because none of them reacted negatively to the news that they might need to wait for just a few more minutes.

"Good. I trust that the trip wasn't too harsh? We've felt some light tremors at a point, unfortunately."

"It was quiet. The Kitsune was only a minor problem in the end." Beruka was lucky that Xander was leading the charge, since Camilla was on her wyvern up in the sky (one more way to make space, perhaps). Had she noticed the scar, she may have thrown everything aside just to try and dote on her retainer in front of a small army, minutes away from a decisive battle that would make or break the great offensive on Hoshido. It was awkward enough to have to "lead" the army, by waiting patiently for ten minutes in front of an entire army of hardened soldiers right before turning around.

As she did so, staring into the white void that would lead her outside, Beruka wondered what in her life led her to be the one to "lead" an army out of a castle within an alternate dimension. An unlikely destiny, for one such as her… But now wasn't the time to think about that. Now was the time to try and lead that army to victory in a ploy to conquer Hoshido. Well, she'd only be showing them the way out, so perhaps it'd be overly prideful to suggest that she was going to lead them to battle. Regardless, Beruka walked out…

Right into an open field. Near her, Niles and Shura were making sure that foes weren't nearby and Corrin was flying above, though he tried to hide behind some trees while using his superior eyesight to see nearby enemies. The assassin stepped aside in time for Xander and some paladins to emerge, and Corrin flew down to meet the former. "Hey!" He said. "How was your trip to the p-wait, not the time. Alright, so… there's a great big "wall" of Hoshidan soldiers, but there are several smaller "walls" nearby. The archers and such seem to be positioned at the back, they're protected by heavier armored units and some flying knights but we're at a position where we can reach them before the others can move out to protect them, and they should be easy pickings.

"Good." Said Xander. "I've made my speech. Corrin, you'll lead the charge but don't get greedy. There are a thousand soldiers ahead. We need to stay together and focus on taking out the important targets to avoid being overwhelmed. Be as brutal as possible and avoid scattering." He said. "We'll need to wait for the others to make their charge before it starts, but it should be occurring-" Nohrian war horns resonated in the air, being so loud that they almost made the nearby trees crumble. Corrin quickly covered his ears. "… now. How close are we to getting the army out? The charge will commence."

A decent bunch of people were already present, too much not to be noticed. Corrin could see some figures in the wood hurryingly running towards the Hoshidan soldiers, prompting Xander to grunt and draw his sword. "We will lead the charge. The soldiers will know what to do once they're out, attack!"

"W-whoah!" Said Shura, falling on his backside as the Nohrian army roared and set out. Corrin, who was leading the charge with the others, drew his stone and transformed into a dragon, diving through the forest to quickly clear a path open for the army. Dashing out of the forest, the dragon jumped straight into the air, using his wings to enhance his altitude by just a little, and then slammed down on the group of archers and mages, blowing them all away with the intense shockwave. Scattered and disoriented, the already vulnerable fighters proved themselves hardly a match against the charging Nohrians and were quickly taken out, being either trampled by the horses or cut down while in the middle of preparing an attack.

Of course, the Hoshidans weren't foolish enough to put all their eggs in one basket, and already a few long-range combats units were moving to attempt to blast away at the Nohrians before they could attempt to move on to them. However, Corrin created a water projectile from the tip of his "mouth" and blasted it at a crowd, before doing so again. The impact was, once more, strong enough to toss people away and prevent them from taking any further action, though since they were allegedly facing a thousand people, they would certainly end up taking enemy fire.

Luckily, the Generals moved ahead in time, positioning themselves in front of the Nohrians that were gathering near the defeated Hoshidan archers and mages. Positioning their shields, they intercepted the inevitable onslaught of magic and arrow, though the former projectiles's superior power threatened to break the line, they nonetheless held fast, aware that letting go could ruin their little strategy.

"Good job!" Praised Xander. Meanwhile, Neo nodded to Corrin and willingly left the safety of the metal wall to hide beneath the dragon prince, who crouched to cover Leo with his body. The magical projectiles stung him a little, but he didn't need to spend much time covering for him, since the young man used the sheer power of his mighty Brynhildr tome to alter gravity in front of him, instantly making it much heavier. The various projectiles dropped to the ground rather pathetically, with even magic having to somewhat follow the invisible force's rules.

The metal wall of the General opened up and then Xander and the others led another charge. Leo quickly dispelled the gravity field, allowing his soldiers not to end up crushed by the gravity spell. Surprised by the sudden charge, the archers and mages struggled to ready their projectiles again while spear masters and units more apt at close-range decided to directly run in and engage the prince's offensive. However, Corrin sped past them and rammed into their backline, quickly preventing another assault, and the Hoshidan's attempt at engaging the Nohrians head-on proved ill-advised, since they were too confused to adopt (or even remember) the proper stances needed to fight off such a charge. Xander and the others once again crushed their foes in a swift victory.

Up above, Beruka was doing her job with Altena, coldly cutting down sky knights with Camilla and the others. Hoshidan's aerial units were in trouble despite their great numbers, owing to the same confusion that was gripping their grounded counterparts and the support of Nohrian archers units, who assisted their winged allies by using fierce arrows to strike down their rivals. Furthermore, Wyvern riders from Tello's unit also charged in, as promised by him, and brought some assistance. While they weren't completely dominating the fight, as attested by some of the dead wyverns amongst all the corpses on the ground, the Hoshidans were on the back foot.

And Tello himself came at the right time, bravely leading his troops forward as he tore his way out of Goemon's Trap. More Nohrians were also pouring out from behind, splitting off from the others to take on other parts of the Hoshidan army. As numerous as they were, the Hoshidans were being sandwiched, and all those numbers meant that they struggled to shift their units.

But while they were on the losing end, the men and women of the dawn country fought fiercely and attempted to take down as many Nohrians as they could. A particularly brave Swordsman, for instance, was using his fallen comrade's sword and his own to ruthlessly cut some invaders down to size, fearlessly continuing his rampage despite his wounds and only meeting his end at the hands of Beruka, who opted to cut his head off from above using a tomahawk. And, somewhere else, a particularly determined great master of Hoshido was using the apex of his combat skills to both heal the wounded and strike at the Nohrians, only going down when he was impaled in the back by Shura.

"Sorry, bud." He said, not particularly disgusted of his action. Swiping the fallen man's staff, the outlaw made his way across the battlefield. In the confusion of the battle, Corrin had decided to switch forms since he didn't trust himself not to accidentally kill off his fellow Nohrians while transformed. Thus, a human Corrin was in the middle of the melee, using his sword to carve through the hardiest Hoshidan armor as if it were mere butter. Plenty of enemies were specifically targeting him, some of them packing those deadly swords, but whenever one of them approached, Xander trampled them, or Camilla swooped from above to rake them to pieces with her wyvern's talon, or they ended up battered away by a sudden magical spell…

Not that he needed the help, though he appreciated it. In his hyper-focused state, he felt as if the world was moving in slow motion. He could see the droplets of sweats, or the much larger flow of blood, everywhere around him in the air. He moved with such haste that he could very well decide to stop and contemplate the way sunlight reflected upon the armor of his fellow soldiers, and then simply continue on his little slaughter without any fear of being caught. He did, however, see the approaching Shura and decided to approach him, casually cutting down a Hoshidan samurai who was about to deliver a death blow to a distracted Nohrian.

Shura stopped when he noticed Corrin's speed, but the circumstances caused him to quickly stop worrying about that. Using his experience with staves, he lit it up with healing magic and the prince's wounds from the magic barrage vanished. After glancing down briefly, Corrin nodded and leaped past Shura to kick away a ninja who was sneaking behind him! Both men then turned around to glance at one another and decided that any conversation should be postponed until after the end of the fight. Shura, quite aware that his bow wouldn't be of any use at such a close range, plucked the fallen ninja's sword and prayed that his ninja training with such weapons hadn't completely atrophied before swinging back into the melee.

High above, Beruka was firmly establishing herself as the superior warrior, endlessly plowing through hordes of sky knights. Arrows were being shot endlessly at the air by either side in an attempt to help the flying riders. Regretfully though, arrows didn't come with an "if hit ally, bounce back" feature (useful as it would be), so a large amount of pegasus and wyverns fell, perhaps because of their allies, and crashed upon the horde. In some cases, the rider didn't die, and promptly managed to get off their fallen mount before continuing to fight, though plenty of soldiers on the ground were eager to pluck those fallen riders before they could become threats again.

Beruka, while she had been skillful enough to avoid all these arrows (she'd need to remember just who raised Altena, the wyvern was quite the obedient little soldier), had been struck once or twice in battle. Blood was oozing down from a wound on the side of her head, courtesy of a glancing blow from a Hoshidan spear, and she had an arrow lodged in her left leg, though her armor prevented it from going all the way through. She couldn't quite identify to whom it belongs, and she was aware that its owner was probably already lying in a pool of his blood, so thoughts of vengeance faded from her mind.

Adrenaline was keeping her together by now. Many wyvern riders would desperate at just how endless the hordes were. For every sky knight cut down, after all, about ten more seemingly sprung to continue the fight in their stead. But Beruka simply killed those ten, and when a hundred sprung to carry on their legacy, she simply killed a hundred. Even as her arm ached, and even as her axes eventually ended up worn from overuse, or broke upon hitting too hard, she simply picked another from a stash on Altena and resumed her duty. It was essential for Corrin and Camilla to win this, and one dead soldier on the other side just brought them a bit closer to that coveted victory.

Her mind was tunnel-focused on intercepting threats and taking them out. She didn't know how the others were doing in the middle of all this, and if they ever were alive, and focused on winning her battle first and foremost. Most of the time, she simply dispatched the soldiers themselves but sometimes she struck their mount and left them to the tender care of the Nohrians below, or simply allowed Altena to use her mighty fangs to complete her work.

One of these fallen soldiers happened to fall right next to General Tello, who was fighting back-to-back with Xander. The tall general, who had some deep gashes on his head, howled upon seeing the fallen soldier and brought his mighty hammer down upon their head. A samurai lunged for him, since the big man needed some time to get back into a proper stance, but he was blasted to smithereens by Xander. The bald man grunted and swung his hammer, dispatching nearly a dozen Hoshidans with a single strike. Not seeing this fight for their survival as a contest, but being too proud to let himself be undone, Xander used his mighty sword Siegfried to cut down about as many enemies and used its beam to strike the ground near a bunch of enemies, further destabilizing them and allowing Selena to leap straight through the smoke and stylishly cut them down with such speed that the red-headed woman's enemies probably failed to realize that they had been cut down until their bodies gave up on them.

Selena then continued on her merry way through the battlefield. Whereas everyone else was fighting for their lives, she didn't look like she was trying that hard. Oh, she wasn't underestimating the circumstances at all. She didn't quip or attempt to slow herself down with needless movements, and in fact, held a poker face that would make Beruka proud through her little run. However, the retainer effortlessly dodged the feeble attacks thrown her way and never needed more than one blow to fend off her attackers. When flying units dropped from the sky, she simply casually moved out of the way, slicing down more foes throughout her manoeuver.

She ran past Kaze, who was clad in a Nohrian suit of armor to avoid being under fire from his side. It barely slowed him down as he shoved his weapons up someone's jaw, before throwing them aside. He then moved to kick a target away from Odin, who was currently dishing out some magical firepower. While the other mages were scrambling to try to distance themselves from the chaos, the eccentric Nohrian was right in the middle of it, using his magic powers to bring some assistance to his allies. His spells were expertly crafted to only ever hit enemy units, but unlike Selena…

"Ah! A most daring blow! My fell hand-feed upon the carnage and draw an unholy strength from it! One that I must use lest my body perishes along with my SOUL!"

Expertly dodging a stab from a very angered Hoshidan spearman by skillfully jumping above the spear that was meant to kill him, the young man then grabbed the weapon and threw it away without even looking, though that didn't stop him from nailing an enemy anyway. He then continued his spell-slinging, never allowing an enemy to hit him even once. A few kilometers away, near the Kitsune hamlet, Arthur wasn't doing as well, as the wounds on his body could attest. Nonetheless, his heroic will carried his body and he continued to strike at his foes with wild, inaccurate strikes that somehow managed to land when the enemy inevitably ended up slipping on the corpse of a fallen soldier or simply mistimed the timing needed to dodge. Effie was right next to Arthur, and while wounded as well, her foes found, to their dismay, that she could still easily overpower them. Elise's retainers worked well together. When the plucky sidekick slipped up, she finished his work with the help of a very powerful shield bash and when she ended up having to readjust her position after striking, he was always present to cove her back.

Otherwise, though, the retainers weren't exactly fighting side by side. They had tried, but the sheer chaos going around meant that only Arthur and Elise had stayed bonded. Niles was a good distance away from Odin with other Nohrian archers, plucking arrows from his quiver or, failing that, a fallen soldier's quiver and quickly shooting the deadly projectiles at the nearest enemy or a flying unit. When a soldier got too close, he retaliated with a powerful kick to the face but never let go of his weapon, unlike Shura, though he sometimes had to use his weapons up close.

"How many fucking Hoshidans are there?!" Yelled Charlotte, well away from Niles, as she brought her axe down on a spell caster's hand.

"There were about a thousand." Said a Nohrian "hero", standing close to her, and watching almost in awe as she continued her rampage.

A third Nohrian, clad in a bony armor and wielding an intimidating axe, slammed a man away with a mace "There must've been m-" He tried to say, though he found himself tragically cut off when his distraction allowed a mace-wielding soldier to avenge his comrade by bashing his face in, destroying his skull-like helmet. The very same soldier than swung his mace at the other Nohrian (who raised his shield just in time to get thrown off his feet instead of outright killed) and then at Charlotte's axe, destroying it on impact.

Charlotte yelled, but not because of her seemingly imminent death. "Fuck you! You know how much money I had to pay for that axe?!" With an indignant cry, she bashed the offender in the face with enough strength to topple him, and then leaped on top of him to deliver a killing blow with her fists.

Once done, the blonde grabbed his mace and got back into action.

The fight stretched on for hours and the sun slowly rose over a blood-soaked battleground. Plenty of brave men and women fell, and by the sixth hour of battle, the Nohrians seemingly took a decisive upper hand, massacring the Hoshidans that hadn't fled by now, though the wounded soldiers from the dawn country were doing their best to cover the retreat and fought fearlessly to buy as much time as possible, sometimes jumping into groups of armed Nohrians with naught but a katana. Others simply drove their blades through their chest, in a bid to avoid capture. While many tried to stop them, if only to gain potentially useful information, a lot of the more tired Nohrians were fine with leaving their enemies to finish themselves off. In some portions of the battlefield, the healers were already exploring the area, healing the wounded.

Corrin stood in the middle of a hellish mess. Everywhere he looked, he could see dead men and women of either nation laying on the ground, some with their mounts. The constant barrage of magical spell had transformed the battlefield into a charred mess, carving smoking craters into the ground and killing off the grass beneath their feet, or even burning it in some cases. As a result, he couldn't even see the sun above the horizon, since the smoke blocked it from view.

Thanks to his enhanced senses, he could also hear the moans and cry for help of the wounded, growing more and more desperate as the overwhelmed healers struggled to help everyone. Sometimes, to his relief, a call for help would be answered and the soldier's friends would cheer at his survival. Sometimes though, they never were, or the medics were too late, and a soul would be snuffed out desperately crying out for any help. The fact that some of those voices were Hoshidans bothered him even more: For those, there would be no help.

And sometimes, people would call out for their friends in the confusion of the battle's end, and would receive no answer or would have it presented to them directly. Like the case mentioned above, such calls ended up surprisingly happy, but while friends and (perhaps) lovers were reuniting in the aftermath of the war, quite a few calls still went unanswered, or the calls would abruptly end, as if the soldier stumbled upon their friend's body.

Corrin himself stood there, in silent contemplation. Once the thrill of battle and adrenaline had worn off, he realized just how many victims he made throughout the battle, thanks to his draconic power and martial prowess. Sure, he certainly didn't cut down that thousand-strong army all by himself, but he still significantly contributed to the downfall of many of its members. And while other soldiers would perhaps relish the idea of wielding so much power, Corrin was almost fearful at the raw might that he had available, almost shuddering as he contemplated his dirty, blood-soaked hands.

Then, he heard his name being called, many times over, by many people. He recognized the voices of his siblings but he could also hear Shura, or Felicia, or Gunter or even Beruka. His name was hard on everyone's lips (The siblings would often call out to each other) but he did hear one or two soldiers say it as well, with genuine anxiety in their voices. They thought that he had died? Hardly surprising considering

Snapping himself out of his funk, Corrin decided to go meet up with some of the people who were clamoring for him and walked towards the person who'd be the closest to him. Fate had decreed that Beruka would be the one, so the young man decided to head for her first. It was a bizarre experience to walk across the battlefield. Beside the cries and the crackling of nearby fires, it was oddly… silent and the smoke emanating out of the fires cast a heavy smoke on the area, darkening it and causing nearby humans to transform into nightmarish silhouettes.

Now and then, a soldier would emerge with their face covered in soot, though less lucky individuals amongst them also had nasty wounds on their faces. Most were heading out towards a medic or could move on their own, but a few were staring at nothing in particular, with their eyes wide open. Corrin stopped to briefly stare at them, unnerved by just how wide and unblinking the soldier's gaze was. But before he could move to try to reassure them, they'd bolt away, and he elected not to give chase to scare them further.

It was hard for the average person to move around the battlefield because of the smoke, but Corrin easily identified Beruka's location and moved to see her. She had elected to walk across the battlefield, concerning the prince and causing him to pick up the pace just a little more, fearful that Altena may have been killed. "Beruka, are you al-" He started, though his speed quickly ended with a gasp of pure shock.

Beruka had managed to get rid of the arrow in her thigh (though she'd need to remove the arrowhead later) but some blood was still coming off her head, though she used a piece of cloth to bandage it. Her face was covered in scratches of all kinds but the more pressing matter was a wound on her left eye, which forced her to keep it closed. Seeing that last injury caused Corrin's reaction, but the assassin didn't seem to mind it too much, simply greeting the young man with a nod.

Her armor had taken some heavy blows as well, and her walking indicated a small form of limping as a result of the arrow, certainly.

"Hello, Corrin." She said. "It seems that you've gone through this battle without many injuries."

Corrin stammered for a little while before firing back with a worried "W-well, you didn't! Beruka, are you okay?" He said. This seemed to annoy Beruka a little, and she folded her arms.

"I'm fine." She said. Her body then immediately decided to disprove that by making Beruka lean forward and backward, almost as if she were able to fall. Knowing that she wouldn't appreciate being "helped" but also not wishing to just let her fall, the young man went for the latter and put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to help her with standing up. The assassin grabbed his arm to support herself as well, and briefly shook her head before standing up straight. "… I'm still fine."

"Y-yeah." He answered. "Where did you even find the time to put on that armor, by the way?" Asked Corrin, out of the blue. "A-and where's Altena?"

"I just put it on over my previous clothes… As for Altena, she was sent to fetch some staves and potions for the healers. Fear not for her fate and concern yourself with yours." She used her finger to touch the center of his chest. "You seem to be troubled."

"W-well, of course, I'd be." Corrin accompanied his reply by sweeping at the battlefield with his free hand. "Look at this… All these deaths…"

"… I see." Beruka frowned and briefly looked down at the ground before looking up at him. "I don't understand though. You weren't this affected by the other battles, right?"

"Y-yeah but." He glanced everywhere around him and decided that it'd be wiser to look at Beruka right in the eye. "I mean, at Port Dia, I was defending people, same for Macarath, and Cheve, well, I did get into a sort of coma and…" The young man stammered a few more explanations. "It's my first time in a battle of such a scale. A-and there will be more of these, though."

Beruka nodded. "Do you fear that?" She asked.

"Y-yeah… Well, I'm not afraid of dying or losing, but all that demise… You know, whenever I fight, I get into a zone. I just stop caring about killing and do it." Beruka seemingly knew what he meant. "I just become the very demon that I'm accused of being, an-and you know what? I-… n-no, I shouldn't…"

"You should."

"… I feel like I should be like this even out of battle. I still have a lot of reluctance in me even after all this, and… and…"

"If you were to do this, would you truly free Noh from its oppression? If you push aside your feelings." She pondered on the irony of her, of all people, telling this. "… Then you will eventually simply stop having problems with that. And if you eventually do, you will eventually slide down a path that will lead you into becoming like the men you despise."

Corrin remained silent, so Beruka, aware that a hug may not cut it, raised her left hand to put it on his cheek. "Keep your mind free from doubts in battle, but don't lose sight of yourself."

"R-right." He spent a while looking down at the ground and then realized that he and Beruka were still holding unto each other, instantly distracting him from the current topic. "O-oh, my bad! I just…"

"It's fine." Said Beruka. "I may… need help to find a medic. Would you wish to help me? It's fine to do it here. The smoke will cover us."

"Of course." Said the young prince. She grabbed on his arm. "I'll be leading the way!"

"Good." Answered Beruka. Corrin smiled slightly, though his joy was dulled significantly by the circumstances, and they both hopped away from the battlefield, praying that someone like Camilla wouldn't find them.

..

N/A: Pam, end of chapter "19". We're gonna get into the Wind Tribe soon. I think we're a bit past the halfway mark right now!

Ohhh, noted for the weapons name! I'll change it later but it's well-noted! And yeah, I figured I'd keep it a Nohr vs Hoshido thing instead of having Kaden be the star. I hope his hands won't mind his appearance here, it's not glamorous, haha! But I don't dislike the guy, he's fine.

What did you think about the infiltration and the huge battle? Reviews are quite welcomed!

See ya later!


	30. Into the night

Beruka swung her axe with such force that the weapon cleaved through the bronze sword that was put forth to try to defend against it, not losing that much momentum afterward since it proceeded to cleanly end the life of the lone Hoshidan who tried to stop her. A few meters away, similarly grisly fates were being inflicted by the Nohrians soldiers upon the fallen soldier's compatriots, though since a few of them were still putting up a fight, Beruka quickly moved past her most recent victim and ran across several meters before cleaving a man almost in half, in a powerful display of agility and might.

The young woman glanced at her surroundings, but everywhere around her, the remaining enemies were dropping like flies or being caught before they could attempt to go out on their terms. Soon, the remaining hostiles found themselves overwhelmed and outnumbered, and the hostilities ended. Soon, Katekura town's flag was replaced by a Nohrian one, to the awe and audible terror of some of its inhabitants. None of them, however, dared to try to stand up against the Nohrians, and a small contingent of soldiers was sent to quickly get them to return to their respective homes.

Beruka pulled out a handkerchief and began to clean her ax, wiping away blood and other chunks from her weapon. Everywhere around her, people were dragging the captured Hoshidan away for interrogation or were dragging their corpses out of the streets of the dainty little town that became, in the span of one noon, the theater of yet another ruthless battle between Hoshido and Nohr. She didn't quite dwell on that though, and simply cleaned her ax some more, raising the flat of the weapon to see if she could contemplate herself within it. Vain, perhaps, but it was a good way to see if it was in a proper state.

All of a sudden, she hears footsteps in her dead angle, and Beruka turned around immediately to face the person who was coming up to her left, even raising her ax in case it turned out to be a ninja or a desperate townsfolk willing to sacrifice himself to try to get rid of an "invader". Luckily, it was neither, though Niles's head came dangerously close to being separated from his body nonetheless. Not that the outlaw minded it: He simply looked down at the weapon in curiosity and then moved it away with one finger, smirking slyly.

"You'd think sneaking into a forest filled with ninjas and highly-territorial fox monsters would deepen our bond." He quipped slightly. "There's no reason to act like this towards a concerned friend, my dear Beruka. What would I need to do to earn your favor?"

"Get out of my sight."

The Nohrian outlaw thought a little and his victorious little grin indicated that he concocted a nasty little plan. "Ah, if it's that simple!" And, without further ado, he moved right into her dead angle, out of sight of her right eye. "Well, now that I'm out of your sight, let's resume the conversation. Where was I? Oh, yes. How's your eye doing?"

"…" Beruka thought about saying "better than yours" and punching him directly in the remaining eye, but that was something that Peri would do. Instead, she brought her hand to her brand new eyepatch, so generously bestowed upon her by Niles. It had that eccentric star design, which she rather disliked, but it filled its purpose nicely. Having to regularly clean it and take care of the wound was a bit of a change, on top of the general problems that came with having a wound on the eye, but she wasn't going to complain about this. The wound was temporary, after all. As described by one of the healers, the injury was thankfully shallow and the eye would be fine after some days. Said healer than immediately recommended not approaching the frontline, since having to adapt to her new depth perception while fighting for her life on a battlefield would be rather challenging, but she didn't see fit to listen to them.

"So?" He said, folding his arms. "Are you lost in thoughts?"

"No. It's doing well. I will give you the eyepatch back once it's successfully healed." She said, before walking away. Niles saluted, and then left. They wouldn't stay in the town for more than a few minutes, since they had to lead the invasion, so the Nohrians had little business sticking around in its streets. Since they were numerous enough, a few soldiers were dropped to keep the town in place and prevent a sudden uprising while a smaller squad would take care of the occupation.

"Tsk." Complained one soldier in particular, glancing at the fading town. "Those guys are pretty lucky. They're just going to have to fight the boredom while we're going to the stronghold."

"Pussy." Replied his neighbor. "A true Nohrian would relish the opportunity to write his name on the history books. You're going to see sights our ancestors have long since dreamed of!" He raised his fist and continued his rather passionate speech. "The wall of Suzanoh broken by our unstoppable march, for instance, or even the Hoshidan capital with a Nohrian flag hoisted over it! Ain't that true glory? To be able to fight in battles that will change the fate of Dreiz?!"

"Like we're going to live through those things."

The second man spat on the ground, and their subsequent exchange became lost amongst the rest of the chatter. Tello, who was leading along with Xander, looked upon the chatter rather disapprovingly, casting his famous glare upon his soldier. At the battle of Goemon's Trap, he had taken some nasty injuries to the head, the likes of which would remain with him all his life even with healing magic, but that only made him look even more intimidating. And besides, he argued that for a soldier, scars were like souvenirs. In the future, when his grandchildren would ask him about his past, he could point to these and say that he participated in the great Nohrian offensive.

However, his blissful ideas weren't of importance now. The general, before he could speak of that war, had to win it after all.

"The Hoshidans sure aren't going to give away their ground easily." He spoke. "I thought that taking Goemon's Trap would strike a blow in their morale but they're as determined as ever!"

"Hoshidans are taught not to give up." Piped in Corrin. He had opted to lead the charge as well, instead of being at his "castle" all the time. "They will fight on their last bit of available territory, even if… once we gather at the door of the capital altogether, they will never quit." He said. "It's a bit like us, don't you think?"

"Corrin's right." Said Xander. "I fear that the Hoshidans will fight to the last man. The soldiers in that town refused to surrender even when they were grossly outnumbered. We will need to take over the entire country, or a significant portion of it, to get them to stop fighting. While I stand opposed to them, I can respect that kind of attitude. Remaining determined and eager to defend's one country even when all seems lost…"

"Are you thinking about joining them?" Said Tello, perhaps the only man brave enough to outright say this, even as a joke, to the crown prince. Xander chuckled and stroked his chin.

"Hmm, I fear that you've pierced my disguise." He said, before resuming his serious air. "On the subject of the invasion, we will be at the territory of the Wind Tribe soon. This should prevent Hoshido from constantly attacking us."

"We need to prepare in case of a trap." Said Leo. "They are neutral but might dislike Nohr enough to decide to team up with Hoshido. Fuga seemingly appreciate our leader, yes, but surely other high-ranking members of the tribe think differently."

"No, they won't. Tello shook his head. "The way the tribe is ruled, there's one leader who says what he wants to say, and some trusted underlings to help things going, but the people are the ones who determine the ruler's stance. If most of them, or more than half, agree on a topic, then the ruler will adapt to their wish. It's a pretty… weird system, that can often be rigged, and it's how the ruler is elected, too." Tello shook his finger. "Once the older leader passes away, then some underlings step up and the people get to decide who will be leading them… And the two winners are required to fight, because, well, the wind tribe think that strength is what matters, but heh."

"Hm… an interesting system. The leader lacks royal blood, but he can still nonetheless rise to govern others." Contemplated Xander.

"Well, it's easy to rig if you ask me, but enough about the politics. The bad thing is that the people of the wind tribe don't like us much, to be honest. The good news is that they trust Fuga. If he let us enter, then I doubt that we'll see attacks from the locals."

"I see..; This is reassuring. But while I hate to be the pessimist, we need to prepare for a scenario where our entrance is denied. This is a full-blown war, we need to be prepared for anything. And as you've pointed out, general Tello, the people of the tribe seem to dislike us, the chances of us being rejected are higher than most of us would be comfortable with."

"A good point, brother." Corrin looked overjoyed in the background but managed to keep a straight face, barely betraying a proud smirk. "If we are rejected, then we will need to carry on until we reach Fort Jinya, there will be towns for us to resupply, as we did with the last one." Said Xander. "Hoshido's resources are a great asset, so we will turn it against them to prevail. We will also need to keep the Rat Catchers vigilant all day, for I suspect that ninjas will be infiltrating our division to try to sabotage things from the inside."

"A good point for both. Those towns will be of great help… Although, what if the Hoshidans decide to take all the resources inside or, if we dwell too near, attempt to outright destroy them? Yes, such an idea may seem insane, but consider that they can afford those losses. I've heard that they don't even know what to do with their food at times, despite their population." Said Tello. "They may decide to sacrifice lesser towns and thoroughly prepare their bigger cities for sieges, in an attempt to stall the war."

"Hm… a reasonable idea, and one that may come to pass… Hmm, speaking of that, I do believe that there is a town nearby." Informed Xander. "Rather small, from what I've heard. I suggest that we send a small contingent of soldiers to put it under Nohr's control. Though, of course, there shall be no violence." He said. "We will take what we need, but no more, and we'll leave them alone."

"Hm… this might be a trap, though. The Hoshidans have been attacking us for a while. With all due respect, you should be careful about sending a group away from the main army. They may be ambushed."

Xander prepared to answer, but a shadow loomed over him, and Camilla emerged. Corrin frowned instantly upon noticing the solemn look on her face, and got Jagen closer so that he may hear better… Then, he remembered that he had his good hearing and chided himself for his reflex.

"Camilla? You bid bad news, it seems… Inform us of it, if you please."

"Father has sent me a message." She said, from atop her wyvern. "Iago has… permitted the use of Faceless to sweep across Hoshidan territory. They've already released quite the horde ahead."

Xander balked in answer, but kept himself composed nonetheless. "What?! Why would Iago do this? The Faceless are still uncontrollable beasts! If they stumble upon a town, they'll destroy it beyond recognition!"

"Of course, but Iago has said that they could stumble upon traps, or force Hoshido to play their hands or even waste its resources getting rid of them… They've already managed to lay waste to a nearby town, animals…"

Xander clenched his fists and looked down. "That scum… Is… is there anything else I should know, Camilla?"

"Yes. The wind tribe will allow us to pass through, but only the group that includes us and Corrin." She said. "They won't allow the rest to simply pass through, and we can't just gather other Nohrians and move into the territory at once. They've barely accepted having the rest of General Tello's group move in."

"Hm… That's a problem."

"I see, well, those are good news nonetheless… At least we'll be able to use the stairway to get into Hoshidan territory more easily. Is there any other news?"

"… Father has made landfall on Hoshido."

The others gasped, and Tello looked up at Camilla. "King Garon has arrived?!"

"Yes, he's just reached Mokushu. He's here to help with "cleaning-up", as he said. He's still pretty far behind us, so far, oh, and Father wants to congratulate everyone." She looked up at the sky and tried to remember the exact wording. "We proved our worth by defeating a thousand enemies in a battle that will mark the history books forever, and each of us within the army have imprinted the world with our legacy."

Corrin stared at… nowhere, exactly, eyes wide, mouth agape. The Faceless being unleashed and destroying a town (with many more being doomed to such a grisly fate) was already hard to take in, but somehow, the presence of Garon was even more concerning to him. Of course, the old king had promised that he'd eventually arrive himself, but the young prince never thought that he'd arrive so soon! Would he be there to help break through the lines of defense? Had he dragged those psychotic thugs with him to help?

"… W-wonderful news! I'm… I'm sorry, I'm just a bit surprised about this." Said Corrin. Behind him, the soldiers were unconcerned with his reaction, since they all had their conversations going, but he was still worried at his less-than-enthusiastic reaction to the news being seen even by a foot soldier. "We will need to surpass ourselves to offer father a country ready to be taken."

"Hm… Yes." Xander glanced. "Thank you for the news, Camilla. We should prepare a camp soon. We're close to the frontier with the Wind Tribe already, and we will need to rest before we head into it. The winds within are quite violent and our soldiers will need to recover their strength before they enter it."

"Good idea. "I'll give out the order then." Said Tello. "We'll need to organize to avoid sabotage. Let's pull a few soldiers out of that… crystal."

"Right."

Leo headed towards the wagon containing the crystal (which was guarded ruthlessly by Odin, Niles, and quite a few high-placed soldiers) while Corrin was left to ponder.

…

The process to mount a camp that could house a hundred men and women were complicated, but Nohrians were disciplined and never one to back away from a challenge. Before the sun settled, they already built tents and settled a guarded perimeter, along with some extra protection from the rat catchers. Plenty of soldiers, however, didn't care much for caution. Yes, they were carrying their weapons (which, given their drunken state, probably did the opposite of reassuring their superiors) but once they set up their inhabitations and the rest, the soldiers promptly decided to use some of their recently acquired Hoshidan ale, inviting other curious soldiers to try it out.

Corrin was sitting amongst such a group, with a little smile. He wasn't one to party, but he had a few questions to ask. And besides, he figured that it'd help if he tried to get close to the men and women who were about to die in the name of his "father" and the mad campaign of his against Hoshido. The soldiers seemed to behave a little more around him, to his regret. One of them even briefly shook off his inhibited state to politely hand him over a drink, full of Hoshidan alcohol. Corrin politely declined in answer, since alcohol had little effects on him and he wasn't interested in tasting it.

The soldiers didn't bother to ask him to try it out, perhaps being glad that they'd have one more drink to consume by the end of the night.

"To all our brothers and sisters!" The soldier's triumphant announcement was somewhat botched by his hiccup, causing quite a few soldiers to laugh. "TO ALL OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS! WHO DIED SO THAT WE COULD EARN GREENER PASTUUUURRREESSSSSSSSS!" He said, with much more emphasis, to silence the laughter. He then, impressively, downed his drink, causing cheers from the on-going crowd. They all drank as well, and a few vomited. Corrin looked at them and drank from his strawberry juice drink, attempting to look as determined as the men and women next to him.

"Y-y-yeah!" Said the man next to him. "And we won thanks to them! And a-a-a-also thanks to Lord C-corrin! He transformed into a huge dragon and went, and went… BAAMMMM!" He described, with enthusiasm.

"Could I transform into a dragon too?" Pondered a female soldier. She wasn't stuttering, but her pink cheek, vacant smile, and slurred voice indicated that she was just as inhibited. "Heehee, I'd just go flying. I'd fly soo high… I'd leave the clouds… and I'd go to see the sun!"

"Well, ya don't need to be a dragon to see the sun!" Laughed her neighbor, who was visibly less drunk. "We can see it from here! Isn't that great?" The crowd responded with a bunch of fracas that he couldn't quite decipher, but it seemed to agree.

"I rarely saw the sun until now." Pondered a nearby knight, who refused to take his armor off and took quite someplace. His heavy swaying, caused by his consumption of alcohol through a small hole in the armor, prompted his neighbors to wisely take some distance. "It's… wonderful. I don't think I'm going to go back to Nohr, after this. I'm just going to farm here and finally eat some vegetation that isn't all twisted."

"Same. Nohr is a blighted country. I don't think I'm going back there when the war's done. But, you know, I think that we won't have to. I mean, we're the ones who invaded Hoshido, right? Why'd we need to go back when we fought for that piece of land? I'm just going to settle down and if some noble come at me with a certificate, well, I'm going to tell them where to stick it!" Said an enthusiastic blond soldier.

"Hmmm, in their pocket?"

"No. Up his ass." Explained the young man, speaking as though he was sharing some worldly wisdom. His interlocutor's immediate "ooo" answer immediately made him look even more like a sage.

"Wait, shit! We're all saying this in front of the prince!" Realized a dark mage. "Lord Corrin, we love Nohr, don't worry!" He said. "My favorite place in the world!"

"Haha… Don't worry, I won't share." Said Corrin. "… But I'm curious, though. Is all of Nohr this bad? What would we need to do for you to get back in?" Seeing the soldiers' incomprehension, probably because of their drunken stupor, Corrin laid his drink down and leaned forward, putting his hands together. He was sitting on a little wooden bench, near the campfire, so it illuminated his face just a little. "If you had to give us royals something to change, what would it be? What would we need to change or even remove before you all decide that Nohr is a good place to live? I mean, barring the obvious."

"Huh.. well, without the Blight, I think I'd suggest… erm." The paladin took a swing of his drink. "Let's remove the nobles, but not… you or the others, because you're nice, but there's a lot of those assholes sitting there, and... they're all assholes… sitting there."

"Yeah… the nobles have been observing us from their ivory thrones, and unlike you or the rest of the royals, they ain't coming down here to fight with us. When we win, they'll come out for sure though, to try and take everything." The soldier who spoke, a wyvern rider, gestured downwards. "It's how they do things. I say, if you want to please us, then force them down their towers, give 'em a weapon and tell them that if they want their fancy cottages and emerald hills, well, they'll have to get it the Nohrian way!" She folded her arms and looked up, proudly, as she received quite the enthusiastic answer from her audience.

"I see…" Said Corrin. "Noted about the nobles. Is there anyone else? The slums, maybe?" The young man snapped his fingers. "Hey, the slums! We'll work to banish them."

To his surprise, the soldiers greeted the news with confusion and surprise rather than joy. "The slums? Oh… Yeah, those." Pondered a soldier. "I didn't grow up in 'em, so I can't say what they're like."

"They're pretty hellish. You've got to fight early if you want to leave them." Described a fellow. "It's nasty, for sure, but it forges a soul as well as it forges a body." The man didn't seem to notice Corrin's concerned gaze. "I mean, it culls the meek and the weak, right? You fight tooth and nail for the right to live. That way, when you join the army, you're already good at fighting. Hardly need all that training." He described, attempting to draw in more than some affirmative nods. "Ain't I right? Come on."

"Heh…" Said his closest neighbor. "A lot of the dogs of war." At the mention of the name, the other Nohrians put their drinks down, or simply fell silent. "They grew up in the slums. Sure, it culls the weak, but it also results in total fucking psychos." Said the man. "See, I wanna beat Hoshido, but I don't think that I should burn down the place, because that's where I'm gonna live and you don't shit where you eat. But those morons? They're going to burn the place down till there's nothing, and all that is because they grew up in those hellholes."

"Yeah, but it's the spirits in their heads." Said a cleric, gesturing to his head. "They were already present when they were born. And the spirits are what tell them to do evil deeds. They're evil at birth, man."

"Well, you could smash their head and get the spirit out." Wisely suggested a man clad in some bony armor. The soldiers then left the previous discussion and proceeded to discuss the best way to get rid of spirits. Corrin, figuring out that the troops would be too busy, decided to call it quit and got up, leaving the little congregation. Some figures observed him from within the group that he was leaving but he failed to notice them on time as he began his nightly stroll, his mind still full of questions.

He didn't feel like going to sleep, but at the same time, he wanted to be ready for the trip to the wind tribe… What could he do? Perhaps he could fetch Nyx to ask him to put him under some sort of sleeping trance? No, she'd probably chide him for having lousy sleeping habits in the first place, and was hard to find thanks to her wards. Perhaps he could just lay down? No, his mind would end up wandering.

"Lord Corrin?" The prince tensed a bit and turned around to see one of the female soldiers approach him. "Are you alright? You looked troubled!" As she approached, he could see her facial features a bit better. The woman had long brown hair, pale skin, black eyes and had clothing fitting of a paladin, she was also pretty large on top of that, being about his size.

"When you asked those questions about the slums, I was so impressed!" She said, putting her hand on his arm. "You sure are asking the good questions! All the other generals, don't mind me, they wouldn't bother hanging out with us like that! Well, Tello did but not tonight… I guess he's extra busy!"

"He works hard, doesn't he?" Said Corrin. The woman nodded and then got a bit closer. Not really knowing how to respond, he just froze in place and put his hands in his armor's pocket, to look in control. "Hey, Lord Corrin, how about we try to see if they're drinking somewhere else in the camp? I bet that if we get the right people, they won't be drunk enough to just wander off like that. It's so rude of them to just diverge mid-transformation!" She shook her head. "Anyway, my name is Lourine! I hope you won't mind if I accompany you! You know, I've always venerated you!"

Rather overwhelmed, Corrin put up a token "uh-uh" before opting to speak up. "Well, sure. I think there's a smaller crowd, and they're not making as much noise."

"Ohhh sweet!" She wrapped her arm around his own, and he realized that she was probably flirting with him. Or she was a spy who was about to try to bury a knife in his stomach, perhaps! Before he could try to ask her if she was a Hoshidan spy who meant to take his life though, a figure stepped out of the shadow of a nearby tent, and Beruka appeared. Her sole eye gazed upon them both, with such force that the paladin opted to let go of his arm in an instant. "Huuhh, huuhhh my dog is lost in the woods, I'm off to find him!" She said, as a justification, before promptly running off. He turned around, but she was long gone, so he turned to see Beruka. Remembering how things looked like, he raised both hands. "I'm-I'm, there was nothing. I was about to ask if she meant to stab me because she was a spy and, if she wasn't, I'd tell her…"

Beruka glanced at him, her gaze betraying confusion. With the presence of her eyepatch, she looked just a bit more intimidating. At the same time, he was weirdly appreciative of it in a way, but he opted not to share it with the others since it'd be kind of weird to flat-out say it. "I care little about that." She said. "I merely wished to discuss some matters with you, if you do not mind."

"W-well, I never mind Beruka." He said, slicking his hair back without really meaning to. She stared flatly at him before he spoke up. "You won't mind if we go for a little walk then, right? I'm sorry, but after spending a good chunk of hours on a horse, I think that I just want to move my legs a little, haha!"

"Hm… We'd need to remain within the camp though." Said Beruka. "In the darkness of Hoshido, only fools would wander out. Ninjas are trailing all around us, waiting for a chance to pick us off one per one. And even if there are none of them, then we would be attacked by a Faceless without a doubt."

Corrin let out a low sigh and smacked his hand against his forehead. "Ohhh, yeah, the Faceless too. I forgot about those." He said. "They've been released… Hm…" The young prince looked out at the horizon beyond the camp. The moon above illuminated a rather peaceful forest (and he could even somewhat see a small lake), and it was a shame to imagine that going there would be a death sentence because of the undead monsters that were roaming across the landscape, mindlessly smashing whatever they saw, including allies.

"Hm… wasn't there a village nearby?" Said Corrin, glancing at Beruka.

"Yes. There was." She put particular emphasis on the last word. "… You're thinking of going there?" Asked the assassin immediately. He was a bit surprised at just how easily she guessed his true intentions, but just smiled.

"Well, I can't just let those people die, right?"

"You can. It's war, you'd be exposing yourself to danger leaving this camp, all for the sake of a destroyed village." She argued. "We do not need to put you in danger, not when I… have concluded that your draconic powers make you a key asset." Beruka eyed some nearby soldiers passing through.

"I guess you're right, but… Well, our fields prevent ninjas from getting in, but what about the Faceless? They could smash through those." He said. "Those dumb monsters could end up slowing us down later, and they're nearby, so I think that…"

"Yes, we'll go to the village." Eventually said Beruka, shrugging a little. He stared at her as if she just argued that the sky was red, so she continued. "I know that you can't be dissuaded away from helping, and you will likely end up upset if denied. So, we're going to the village… And I'll be accompanying you to make sure you don't accidentally end up running off into a crowd of Faceless."

"O-oh, I see! Well, you're not forced to. It's pretty dangerous, and I don't want to drag others into that little journey. It's a little selfish of me to drag other people into this mission, after all."

"Yes, it'll remain between us." Said Beruka. Then, a shadow dropped behind her, and she glanced behind her, noticing that Kaze had just jumped in, with his usual smirk. She sighed.

"I guess it's not really between you two anymore." He said. "Apologies for intruding, but I was searching for Lord Corrin."

"Is there something you need to see me about?" Answered Corrin, leaning back a little. Kaze shook his head.

"I haven't been successful in approaching the other Nohrians unprompted. It is not a matter of being rejected, of course, but I find it… difficult to be accepted nonetheless, and some of their cruder comments on Hoshido and its people have convinced me that I should perhaps seek more sober companionship. I do apologize if I interrupted something."

"No, don't worry." Corrin frowned a little, and Beruka realized that some soldiers would probably get themselves a solid lecture. Then again, while she wouldn't be caught defending those dim-witted fools, she could understand their reluctance at dealing with a Hoshidan. For more than centuries, Hoshido had been their enemy for Nohr, so having to accept a deflector into their midst was a surprise. Not that deflectors weren't common through the years, but with the years and years of propaganda etched into their minds, or the difficulty that came with crossing Nohr in the case of a lucky slum-dweller, it was difficult to be a turncoat.

"Hm… If anything, Kaze, would you mind helping Beruka and I on a little mission?" He proposed. "There's a bunch of monsters, you know, the Faceless."

Kaze nodded. "Those sinister beasts… Yes. I've heard that they've been deployed in the landscape. You would wish to get rid of them? While I certainly commend such an action and promise to help you kill as many as we can, I have to wonder why you would get rid of them when they've been released by your Nohrians superiors."

"I'm a prince. I can always say that a few Faceless were getting too close to the camp and we decided that it'd be best to remove them." Said Corrin. There was an edge of a sort in his voice as he declared his status as a prince. "I don't want to sit by and watch while those degenerate monsters cause suffering amongst the innocent people of Hoshido. They're too stupid and disorganized to be a threat to the more well-armored infrastructure, after all, so their main victims are defenseless people."

"I see… Well, you have my support."

"And mine." Said Beruka.

"And mine."

"Alright, but you shouldn't listen to people like that, Shura!" Chided Corrin, glancing at Shura. The outlaw drank from a bottle of alcohol and shrugged. "What can I say? I'm not wanted around like green hair." He said. "People are not going to easily trust an outlaw who tried to rob them blind, who'd knew? There's also the whole ninja thing."

"Hm... We'll discuss this later, if you don't mind. We should at least head out to try and ensure that we'll be able to save at least one life in the village. Do you have any weapons on yourself?"

Beruka casually pulled an axe out from a little sheath on her thigh. She'd need a much deadlier axe to kill a Faceless, but with Corrin around, she figured that she could easily get into a position where she could finish them off. Shura, meanwhile, pulled out a little katana, taken from the battle at Goemon's trap, and Kaze pulled out a few daggers. Nothing impressive, to be honest, but it'd be a waste to acquire the bigger weapons when Corrin could tear the beasts apart with his bare hands anyway.

"Alright, I'll be offering an excuse to leave the camp, hm… I've got a good one."

…

"You were feeling like taking a walk but you'd need us around because you're scared of the dark? Really?" Said Shura.

"Well, I'm a bit scared of the dark, so it's not a lie!" Said Corrin, defending himself against the outlaw's accusation.

The four Nohrians were walking on an empty hill, with the wind occasionally howling. Beruka, uninterested in the discussion, was glancing at the horizon and the green pastures ahead of her (though she could see, in the distance, the tall mountains of the wind tribe). A few years ago, perhaps, she would've shrugged off the sight, but seeing the kilometers worth of grass ahead awakened something in the assassin, like… awe.

It was everything that she had yearned to see back in the slums, everything that the story-tellers described in their tales of emerald mountains and azure skies. And if she wanted to, she could very well settle in, give the finger to the nobles and accomplish her childhood dream of "freedom" by living in those beautiful green fields, away from the sinister landscape of Nohr and its inhabitants… But then, she remembered that she didn't even know what she'd do if she even decided to retire. As much as she disliked to admit it, there was a small thrill to killing. Every time she managed to track down a target and drive a knife unto their heart, she felt a bit warmer, a bit more alive at times. Would that feeling vanish if she were to retire?

Working with the King's shadows would grant her a work similar to her old one and she'd at least be able to do something instead of wasting away in some house, but she'd abandon her identity entirely and would truly accept her role as a pawn of the new monarch. Sure, Xander would probably change that, since he seemed determined to change Nohr from top to bottom, but would his elite guard take priority over all of Dreiz? He'd probably change the way the Shadows worked later, and she would probably be "gone" by then, and unable to simply resume her old identity.

She'd need to give up and bid farewell to Camilla, Selena, and Corrin. And while it would be a no-brainer to do so if you asked her about a year ago, that frustrating hesitation kept cropping up now. Beruka needed to talk to Corrin about this. She needed to do it now, and she was almost angered at Kaze and Shura for the crime of being there or Corrin himself for deciding to go on some nightly expedition that could endanger him if he overestimated his powers or the numbers of Faceless there.

"Is there something wrong, Beruka?" Asked Kaze, uninvolved in the current debate.

"… Am I thinking about the battle, nothing more." She said. "… You seem fine with the idea of invading Hoshido."

"We already had this conversation, with all due respect. I know that I would need to assist in my country's invasion, eventually. I had some months to steel myself to this eventuality. And I know that the generals who lead this army are good people who will not let their soldiers commit wanton brutality upon Hoshido's people." He said. "Though it is rather concerning that they weren't consulted about the attack of the Faceless. Those brainless abominations could very well end up being more of a bother than anything."

"Yes. But Iago is the grand general. This position allows him to answer to none other than King Garon. While he cowers in front of the siblings, he cares little about their opinion now that he's half a country away from them." She said.

"Hm… I see. Truthfully, I was hoping that deflecting would allow me to see for myself why King Garon would surround himself with such…"

"You can be honest, for once." Said Beruka.

"Right. Why such pieces of garbage would be hired by him." He said. "Yukimura, his direct counterpart if I may say, is a far more honorable man… Oh, though I reassure you, I do not plan on defecting back." Assured Kaze.

"Iago is powerful. Moreso than the other mages. This is why he was hired." She said. "Nohrian society works like that. If you are strong and can at least lead and answer to the King, you can occupy a high position. Someone with a weak body can ascend, but it's better to be physically or magically strong." Beruka flexed her arm a little, but not out of pride. "I'm the servant of Lady Camilla because of my strength, for instance. I will not say that I own my position only due to it, but every Nohrian is expected to have the strength to fell their enemies, and the willpower to use it."

"I see… In Hoshido, it is more of a matter of proving oneself, and age." He said. "In Hoshido, elders must be respected and honored. Even the Queen, depending on their age, may be forced to listen to the council of the elders." Kaze seemed to be pretty pleased at the information, and Beruka reminded herself that interrupting someone mid-conversation was rude, so she decided to let him speak. "Of course, some in Hoshido sees it as bad. For them, the future's country is shaped by old men, who seek to increase their already considerable power even further, and care little about the fate of the younger inhabitants… And while age will inevitably catch up to them, though some will meet a blade instead, there will always be someone eager to fill that void."

"I was led to believe that the royal family was the supreme leader of a sort. Some cabal is leading Hoshido all of a sudden?"

"It is more of a cooperation. The regent is the spiritual ruler, lead the armies, take care of the citizens and preserve the weapons while the elders help with all of those. At any point, the regent could decide to ignore them, or even attempt to recuperate their power by killing them, but that would result in resistance, and the regent would soon be identified as a tyrant." Said Kaze. "This "power-split" allows both leading parties to work together without overtaking the other, and allow one to stop the other if they need to, but of course, they have both tried to go through loopholes to acquire more power than the other. Thus far, I've heard that they're busy trying to defeat Nohr, though."

"Hm… in Nohr." She admitted. "The nobles rule over the country, but are weaker than the royal family." Beruka twirled her axe. "Surely, you're aware of the great massacre at the Forlorn Forest, hm?"

"Yes. This made them subordinate to the state, right? The council of elders got quite afraid after hearing about it, and this led to an attempt to consolidate their powers. This caused the young King Sumeragi to have a difficult time." He said. "But from your description, no one grows old in Nohr, right?"

"Yes. King aside, no one grows old in Nohr. When they do, they end up weak. At the mercy of paltry brigands that they could've easily blown away in their prime." Said Beruka. "Most Nohrians seek to have a glorious death or at least a glorious life before an assassination happens. In a way, it keeps the country fresh." She said. "Only the royals ever make it to old age, though there are exceptions, like Katerina."

"Ah yes… That was an exceptionally terrible period in Nohr."

"It was, but it was the King's foolishness that caused this. In his grief after Queen Katerina's death, he allowed all those women to get close to him, and when one of them, Arete, "won"… They tore each other apart." She said. "It was a golden age for assassins. Plenty of them were hired to commit murders, at a very high price, and some were subsequently hired to kill those who succeeded or simply the women or jealous nobles who hired them."

"Isn't it a little sinister, with all due respect, to deem such a period a golden age? I've come to understand that the royal family has come to suffer from it, and plenty of lives were lost."

Beruka pondered a little. "Not many would side with these women." She said. "The nobles in Nohr keep the population under their hell or at the slums, and ruthlessly fight to keep their shreds of power. When a noble die, few weep for them." Continued Beruka. "The concubine war involved a lot of nobles killing or crippling one another. The population obviously would enjoy that."

"I see… This hatred against the nobles seems to be prevalent, from what I've glanced. Say, what's your opinion on them?"

"They're targets. I was sent to kill a few of the more rebellious ones." Said Beruka. "Not all of them are stupid, but all are overconfident or so paranoid that they end up easy to approach and kill."

"I see… It is truly different from what I've envisioned. In Hoshido, the nobles and the old rule the country in harmony. In Nohr, they are hated and under the King's control."

"Didn't you already know that? Regardless, the others are distancing us. We should catch up to them, lest they end up too far away to rescue us from a sudden ambush by the Faceless, resulting in swift dismemberment and death." When Kaze chuckled in a very nervous manner, Beruka shook her head a little. "No. I'm not joking."

The two sped up in time to notice that Shura and Corrin were still discussing the merits of his plan. Tiring from the topic after one second of hearing it, Beruka approached the two and put her hands on their mouths. The right one clamped quite fiercely on Shura's jaw, to a degree where pressing just a little more would ensure that he wouldn't be talking for the rest of the war, but it was far softer on the young prince, though the surprise in having his mouth covered caused him to nearly leap to the moon and back.

"B-beruka!" He said. "You surprised me! H-hey, was my excuse bad?" He asked. "Hey, Kaze, help me as well."

"It was an awful excuse." She said.

"… Yes, I think I could've done a better one. With all due respect, of course!" Admits Kaze, laughing a little. "But I do not think that we should make too much noise while we're in the countryside." As he said that, Shura noticed something peering out of the snow and approached a little. "Ninjas may be outside, and it would be bad for us to get caught out. Furthermore, aren't Faceless drawn to noises? We shouldn't be making too much yelling."

"Yes."

"Heh. I don't think we need to worry about ninjas for the time being." Said Shura, poking at something at the ground with his feet. Whatever he saw, it was enough to get him to stop slouching and stand up straight. This prompted Beruka to approach, curious at whatever could get his attention, and the sight that appeared unto her eyes caused her to pause, for the briefest moment, and she moved to try to stop Corrin from getting closer, lifting her hand at the last moment to get him to stand back a little.

On the ground laid the remains of some unfortunate Hoshidan soldiers, who met with a terrible fate at the hands of the Faceless. Since she could still recognize the armors and some of the limbs that had been strewn about, she figured that they had been torn apart instead of merely pummeled to death. Kaze knelt close to the "bodies", sighed sadly, and got up. "Let the wings of death purify their bodies, and may the spirits of the afterlife smile upon those poor fools."

"I doubt that a vulture is getting anywhere close." Said Shura. "They're rotten beasts for sure, but even they know not to be around when the Faceless are nearby." To demonstrate his point, Shura pointed down, and then up. Indeed, the corpse-eaters had chosen to vacate the premise, perhaps eager that death would come swiftly upon them if they chose to dine nearby.

"What's going on?" Said Corrin, still spared from seeing the scene. He could always glance at it with his eyes, but he probably wasn't curious enough to do so.

"The Faceless's victims… We should be close to a village." Said Beruka. She quietly walked past the corpses and noticed that giant footsteps were on the ground. The Faceless came from up north, alone, and met a squad of roaming Hoshidans, it seemed. Then, once it was done, the beast moved away from the small crater caused by its attack and headed east, away from the camp. It was probably headed for that city, since the Faceless, while devoid of reasons, were made to be smart enough to target Hoshidan infrastructure over Nohrian ones. They would still happily tear apart humans, regardless of nationality, but if presented with two humans, one from Nohr and one from Hoshido, they would start with the latter.

Thus, the village was probably nearby. The Nohrians were making quite some noises and the lights were on, so the Faceless would've went for them unless it happened to smell a nearby Hoshido infrastructure.

"The village is nearby, and so are the Faceless." Said Beruka. "It appears that this particular Faceless joined the assault rather lately, it may still be standing. Or at least, still had humans within it." She stared at Corrin, who was being somewhat carefully led away from the gruesome sight by Kaze. "But it appears unlikely that they survived. It'd be best to go back to the camp and prepare some defenses. If the town has been destroyed, then the Faceless will head for the camp, unless there's a village further down to assault."

"Hm… a wise idea." Said Kaze. "With all due apology, lord Corrin, I doubt that there will be much to save, and it would be best for us not to get caught by surprise when the fiends head for the camp. They might be doing so right now."

Corrin stammered a little. "W-well, I'm not hearing them do so." He says, biting his lip a little. "But can we just… check on the village? Maybe they survived, right? Surely, the villages would get some measures to fend off these beasts?"

"Unfortunately, the best ways to avoid dying at the hands of a Faceless is to hide in a bigger city or put up spikes and the likes around the perimeters. The village that was attacked, and its inhabitants, was either too poor to do both or simply unwilling." Said Kaze. "We may get close, perhaps, but in hindsight, attempting to hunt the Faceless may be an ill-advised venture."

"Yeah, he's right." Shura jammed a thumb at Kaze. "I'm loyal to you, but we may wish not to step too much into Faceless territory with our regular weapons."

Corrin glanced at Beruka, with eyes akin to a pleading puppy. She stared at him, looked aside, and decided to walk past him. "Come. I'll take you." Ordered Beruka. "But we may only get close to see if there's a village left. When… if there is no one to save, we will go back, alright?"

"But… you all agreed… Alright. T-thanks Beruka." He said. He moved to grab his hand, but figured that she wouldn't accept it, so he just walked in synchronization with her. Behind them, Shura sighed and began following them.

"I sure do love putting my life in danger." He said.

"Well, I may as well remain with you then. If I were to head back alone, I could be attacked… or suspected of some horrible crime." He admitted. It was a good point: Kaze returning alone after taking aside Corrin, Shura, and Beruka would be seen as very suspicious. Thus, the young man didn't refute him. Instead, they went deeper into the Hoshidan landscape, though it took them barely four minutes to follow the Faceless's massive footsteps and see another troubling sight. Still, it got less of a rise out of the three more hardened members of the group.

The quiet Hoshidan town had been, indeed, leveled by the rampaging Faceless. Its rustic houses fell all too easily to fists that could shatter steel and stone without issues and the inhabitants aside had all been easily caught and slain by the Faceless. Speaking of those, the giant deformed monsters were in sight, with one having a spear lodged into its chest. Not that it minded, thanks to its immortal nature, or it was simply too dumb to even register it.

The Faceless were tall beasts, but no one could exactly make out what they were made out of. Some said that they were monstrosities made out of the corpses of the soldiers who fell in the war, powered by the soldier's remaining hatred. Dark wizards, meanwhile, sung tales of acquiring the flesh of dead Nohrians and stapling it together into a hideous, brainless mass. No one knew, since the process to make Faceless was known only to a tiny handful of mages and the average wizard could only really summon one. It worked into their mystic, of a sort.

The beasts had some rudimentary armor on them, by some complicated magic ritual, but were otherwise left out into the wild. They weren't excepted to do anything else but cause chaos and eventually die, so they relied on their supernatural strength and speed and sheer lack of any feeling of pain to brutally overwhelm their enemies until their spears eventually overwhelmed them. Right now though, they seemed oddly quiet, walking around the perimeter aimlessly, sometimes even lifting a single piece of wood and then continuing to walk. Some weren't even moving, merely standing still without so much as twitching a muscle.

Kaze clenched his fists upon seeing the destruction. "This village did nothing to deserve such destruction… I may be a traitor to Hoshido, but please, allow me to mourn the senseless murder of those innocent citizens."

"Yeah. Well, we better mourn it a few kilometers away. I don't know why the Faceless are that quiet, but I think I can live without finding out."

"The Faceless are made to exterminate, they will not move out unless some humans remains." Said Beruka. "But it seems odd, nonetheless. There must remain only one or two humans." The assassin contemplated her situation from their vantage point and frowned. "Even the Faceless move away from a post once it's been destroyed enough. Why would they remain here?"

"I guess you'll ask a mage once we're back at the place that isn't infested with hulking undead monsters." Said Shura, who glanced at the praying Kaze, shrugged and moved to leave, walking quietly. Beruka had to agree, and turned towards Corrin to put her hand on his shoulder. "We should leave. There must remain only one person in there, Corrin."

"… One person to save." He muttered, eyes wide and desperate. "I… I can't let something like that happens in front of me. Get back to the camp, I'll just save someone." The young prince moved and, before the three soldiers could make an attempt, moved to slide down the hill. He did so discreetly, but a nearby Faceless whipped around with great speed, instantly taking on a combat stance.

Beruka wished to yell at Corrin for putting himself in danger, but before she could do so, the Faceless threw his hulking mass forward with immense speed. Before the prince could be warned, the Faceless came up to him, raised its massive hands over its masked head, and slammed them down on him.

"Corrin!"

…

N/A: Hehe, kind of a filler chapter! Or not really, since it's a paralogue. But a bit changed, of course.

Indeed, Corrin's realizing what being an invader is, and as shown in this chapter, he's not taking it particularly well! It must be a bit tiring but the future fight with Fuga will involve him cutting down on the hesitancy, so don't worry!

How was the chapter? I sure do love reviews, so keep 'em coming, they're great!

See ya later!


	31. The country where the wind blows

The Faceless that attacked Corrin was a mountain of necrotic flesh and muscles. A eleven-feet tall abomination that moved with far too much swiftness for a being of its size and power. Armed with naught but her regular axe, she would have a very hard time putting it down, and would probably still be struggling with it when its equally massive brethren would arrive on the scene, ready to tear her from limb to limb. It was a situation that no people, even a hyper-competent Nohrian assassin who tangled with the best warriors on the continent, could wish to find themselves in.

And yet, she still leapt to Corrin's spot, sliding down the hill with her axe at the ready, eager to try to defend him by attacking the beast. As hopeless as her endeavor was, Beruka refused to back off, holding up her axe and building up the strength to sever the creature's head in one blow. Shura's yelling in the background was all too distant, and she only focused on the nearby threats. Be it the Faceless, or the two nearby undead creatures, who were now staring directly at her. In spite of their size and power, the assassin felt like she could send them flying if they ever made their approach. All that mattered to her was getting close to the prince, and she'd make swift work of whatever would stand in her path.

In front of her, the Faceless that seemingly crushed Corrin raised its hands again and smashed the ground in front of it, then did it again. The second time though, its hands went flying out of the smoke that it had created, having been messily severed from its arms. As immune to pain and… somewhat unintelligent as it was, even the Faceless knew that something had gone wrong, and it left out an otherworldly grunt before backing away. Strangely enough, it didn't bleed anything from its stump. It also didn't bleed anything when a shape ran out of the smoke and used a single kick to pulverize its head. Deprived of its head, the creature stumbled backward and fell. This overwhelming display of might caught the attention of its fellows and the Nohrians present, and the two Faceless that were ready to attack Beruka, and Beruka herself, turned towards the fallen corpse of the attacker.

Over it stood Corrin, with Shadow Yato drawn. He looked fine, if a bit covered in dust, and was currently staring at the gathered mass of undead with an unusual look of contempt and anger on his face. Then, his eyes detected Beruka, and that ruthless air of his fell to the side to make way for an embarrassed little grimace.

"Beruka!" He said, quickly approaching. "I'm sorry for worrying you… Oh, and the others!" The prince looked up at his fellows. "Apologies for worrying you guys! But." He turned to look down at Beruka. "I… well, I'm sorry for worrying you. I mean, you went down that hill and exposed yourself to danger just because of me…"

"It's not-behind you!" Beruka drew her axe and prepared herself for a fight upon noticing the speeding monsters heading their way, who obviously didn't intend to simply let the two have their little chat. Running in the other direction would've been a smarter move however, because it took Corrin a single swipe of his sword to instantly fell both creatures, though Beruka, just to be sure, took the decision to sever their necks with her weapon.

"They're not a threat." Said Corrin. "Well, to me anyway. You guys should stay close just in case."

Kaze and Shura, who were already sliding down the hill, didn't wait for his order to make their move. "Damn right." Said Shura. "You know, the more I see you fight, the more I get why you dropped me so easily at the ship." Continued the outlaw. "I feel a lot less ashamed about that, now."

"Heh… It's only been some months since our battle at the Sevenfold Sanctuary, and yet, you've made boundless progress." Said Kaze. "Most impressive."

"It's only thanks." A Faceless ran in, but Corrin simply leapt and severed its head flat. "To my draconic power. I'm not that good."

"Heh, modest too? Come on, it's okay to be boastful from time to time." Admitted Shura. "Well, anyway. There's one person still alive, right? We should try to search for them, or else the whole trip would've been kind of a waste."

"Well, that, and obviously lives in danger should be saved." Corrected Kaze.

"Yeah, that too." Said the outlaw. "Well, how many of the freaks remain ahead? If you want, we can dig her out of whatever rubble she's found herself in while you two clean up… Well, let's be honest, while Corrin clean up and Beruka can always assist." He said, seemingly expecting the assassin to stare at him. Instead, she just nodded. He wasn't really wrong in his assessment after all, and it'd be pointless to try to intimidate him for it. Kaze, however, looked a little surprised at seemingly teaming up with Shura, though the circumstances forced him to adapt quickly.

"Alright. I'm always up to save a life." Said Kaze. "Hoshidan as they may, the person stuck inside must still be saved."

"Yeah, no need for a speech. Let's just do it." Shura glanced at Corrin. "Is there someone else or is it just one person?"

"One person." Answered the prince, after holding out his ear. "I should've been there sooner."

"Perhaps, but there's nothing to be done to save these. Come. If you're quick enough, this one person will be saved."

Corrin nodded and, after some hesitation, pointed at a small forest, past a little stream. The bridge hadn't been broken yet, giving him some hope that the Faceless had yet to take that particular path. "I'm going to scout ahead, in case there's Faceless in there." He said. "They may be standing still in there, and there's no heartbeat for me to track them by, if you ask why."

"Fine by me." Said Shura. "Hey, what about the remaining abominations though? I'd be pissed if we ended up assaulted and killed while in the middle of your little frolicking in the wood."

"There's…" Corrin looked outside and noticed one last rampaging undead, heading straight for the group. He held out his hand, smirked, and turned his arm into a long, thin yet sharp black spear, piercing the undead right in the face. "About zero." He said, with a cocky smirk. "I'm not hearing any of them in the nearby area. They would've ran in there by now after all."

"Well, hope you won't mind if we tag along anyway? If some Faceless run out of nowhere, you'll be closer to help us both." He said. "I wouldn't be asking this if I had some more proper equipment but… heh, it would've been suspicious if we ran out and acquired some heavy-duty weapons for a simple stroll late at night, right? Unless you were really scared of the dark."

"C-could you please stop bringing that up?" Stammered an indignant Corrin. "Alright, follow us then. Once we're in the clear, we'll just search together then. It's easier. Splitting ourselves in two groups is pretty dull on my part after all."

"Heh, don't worry, you handled these really easily so I get why you'd be confident. But how about we go to that person's rescue now and cut the chit-chat for later? Even with your level of strength." Shura turned towards the destroyed village. "… I'd rather not stick around for even a minute. Bad memories and all."

"Understandable." Said Kaze, as the group began to head out. "It also pains me to see a destroyed village. I can certainly understand conquering a town after a battle, but inflicting needless harm on a village that has done no harm is disgusting." He folded his arm. "I do not know what would drive Nohr to commit those despicable actions."

"Yeah… something about this doesn't feel right. The Faceless are going to destroy a lot of infrastructure that the settlers could need later, and sure, it can be replaced, but it'd be easier, and cheaper, to just keep the thing in the first place instead of destroying it."

"Do remember Garon's speech. His goal, and the goal of his sycophants, is to destroy Hoshido entirely. Yes, destroying infrastructure and sending those… necrotic golems across the region is irrational and will result in more destruction than it is worth, but it's secondary to their actual objective of besting their rival country for good." Said Kaze. "It's a shame, however, that citizens will need to die as well."

"Well, what about the soldiers?" Asked Shura.

"One who take up a weapon learn that his life belongs to the gods. Should they fall, then so be it. They volunteered fully knowing that. The civilians, though, simply wish to live their lives in peace. They should not be deliberately targeted. The Faceless's purpose may be to sow chaos, yes, but all they ever do nowadays is destroy villages and harm the defenseless."

"Yeah. I get you. Well, do keep in mind that you ninjas have been doing the same for Nohr." He said. "I'm aware that Hoshido's been sending ninjas into Nohr to harass the common man and spread chaos. Morally, I don't really care. I'm an outlaw, and I was a ninja myself, so I'm not going to lecture you, but… You do know that you're kind of a hypocrite on that one, right? Sure, the Faceless are awful and Nohr has done wrongs, but things have gotten so shitty in the first place because people answer wrongs with wrongs."

"I do understand your point. And to be honest, the attacks on the innocent citizens of Nohr is what pushed me to switch sides. My people, much like Nohr, seek to wipe out their enemies entirely. And given the state of the country, it will be easy to topple Nohr if their leaders fall." He said. "And during my trip to the country, and out of it, I realized just how truly miserable the average Nohrian was. Since neither sides were in the right for me, I chose to go with Corrin. With him, Nohr will be reformed and Hoshido will live."

"Heh, I see your point. I'm in the same boat. I don't care about Nohr and its scumbag elites, and Hoshido gave up on my country in its direst hour. I'm following the kid to see if he can turn things around." He said. "And so far, I haven't really been disappointed. Being an outlaw sucked. Betrayal's everywhere, everyone hates you, it's cold and hostile outside or even inside." Shura sweeped his hand at nowhere in particular. "But in this new army? It's pretty great. I sneaked into a forest filled with fox monsters to unleash half an army out of a magical orb, all for the purpose of successfully ambushing a thousand soldiers. I'd say things are good."

"Heh… I can imagine that you'd be proud. It was certainly an harrowing encounter." Said Kaze.

"Speaking of that… How did it feel to attack and kill your former countrymen?" Asked Shura, perhaps a bit bluntly.

"It was painful, but as I told Miss Beruka, I was never under the delusion that I would be able to spare my fellow Hoshidans. War has its casualties, and though I mourn their losses, I knew that they were inevitable. Besides, if I took precaution not to kill my fellow, the others would be suspicious of me and my loyalty. I'm barely accepted as it is."

"People don't trust ninjas… But if you ask me, we're not going to be constantly slaughtering Hoshidans." Said Shura, before lowering his voice. "With the way things are going, I think that there'll be fights between Nohrians once Hoshido's done for."

"Really?" Said Kaze, raising a curious eyebrow. "What makes you believe that?"

"Well, there's a lot of frustration with nobles, Garon's cronies are going to want to hold unto their powers… I'm not saying that there will be a civil war, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a brawl. Lots of blood is going to be shed." Admitted Shura. "And there's not much we can do to stop that."

"You seem to be flippant with it… in all due respect."

Shura shrugged. "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that people think that the easiest way to obtain something is via murder. Manipulation, friendship, intimidation… it's a lot of work. In the end, a lot of people think that you just need to plunge your knife somewhere and make it work. And those Nohrians brute know nothing but violence, anyway. If they see their positions being threatened, and notice that their usual sycophantic tactics don't work, you can bet that they'll fall back on the one thing that always worked for them. And we'll have to outdo them in their favorite field to win." Said the Kohgajin. "Though even if we murder them all, there's no way this will fix all those years of having Garon as a King. Fixing Nohr will take more than just punching the bad guys and calling it a day."

"A wise point." He said. "Though I fear that having to fight those loyalists and keep Hoshido stable will prove stressful on the new king. Of course, I do intend to help Lord Corrin with that anyhow."

"Yeah… Well, that's what happens when you spend decades doing everything in your power to worsen the situation. I'm confident that Xander and his buddies will be able to do something. Well, at least I hope that they'll do it. If Nohr break down because of in-fighting while Hoshido just got the crap beaten out of it, the entire continent's going to go up in flames." He made a whooshing gesture with his hands, imitating a rising fire and accompanying the motion with a helpful "wooaahh" sound.

"Well, if you asked me, we could say that Kossatsu… apologies, Dreiz, is already going up in flames. I rather detest quoting the man, but Garon is right to call it a turning point. Future historians will note the current conflict that we're partaking as a key turning point for the future. A shame that such turning points are rarely brought forth by wars and other conflicts."

"Well, what did I say? Diplomacy and listening to others is hard. Better to just punch the other guy and get what he has on his person."

"Hm… With all due respect, that is a rather, erm, lawless way of saying things."

In front of the duo, Beruka and Corrin decided to take some advance, stepping over the bridge and into the forest itself. The young man leaned over to the left, as if hearing something, and then raised one finger before turning towards Beruka, with a joyful smirk. "Hey, I can hear some birds!" He said. "If they're singing, it means that there shouldn't be any monsters around."

"Good news." She replied. "You did particularly well dispatching them."

"Well, it's like…" He glanced behind him, and Beruka very quietly put her finger in front of her mouth. "Like… dolls, you know? The Faceless lack pity, mercy or really anything close to that. They live to slaughter, I don't need to hold back on monstrosities like this. I mean, I shouldn't hold back against living soldiers either maybe, but it's far easier to just go at it against those monsters?"

"Hm. I can see your point." She looked around. "I've learnt that regular humans can be just as devoid of mercy and compassion as those beasts myself." Beruka looked down, noticed that Kaze and Shura were now well behind, and turned to Corrin. "I do need to tell you something." She whispered, her voice being caught by his supernatural hearing. The young man glanced at her with wide eyes.

"After the war, what are your plans?" She asked, curiously. He seemed rather prepared to the question, fortunately, since his answer didn't come with any hesitation beside some brief surprise at Beruka's sudden curiosity.

"I'm going to fix the system that gave rise to psychopaths like Hans and secure peace with Hoshido. It's going to be hard." He winced, perhaps thinking of endless angry reunions and shouting. "And we're probably not going to be out of this mess in just some years, but I have faith that we'll be able to see a different Nohr by our lifetimes." He looked at her. "What about you?"

"I'm… I've been approached. After the war, I might get hired with the King's shadows." She said, seeing no use in treading lightly. His eyes widened slightly but he managed not to sound too shocked. "I will serve as the King's bodyguard against threats, though I will also protect the Royal family."

"Congratu-oh." He realized the nature of the job and looked down. "Erm… And you're telling me because you might be hesitating? There was a sort of slip in your voice early on." He said. She narrowed her eyes.

"Yes." She admitted. "You know me a little too well… Though do see it as a demand. Not a permission." Beruka précised. "I… respect your opinion, but please, do not try to stop me directly.."

"I won't. You're free to do as you want, Beruka." He said. "You earned that right, and I'm not going to try to hold you back from it of course." Considering the nature of the news, he was taking it rather well. Past the initial surprise, that is. "It'd be a bit of a shame if you were to just discard your identity… Wait, a huge shame." He said. "What's your current stance on it though?"

"I am thinking about it, but before that, I need to get past the rows of blades, maces and shurikens in my way." She said. "But… to be perfectly honest, I find myself hesitant. Would you know why?" Beruka asked.

"Well, I'm not you but maybe it's a hesitation thing? You'd need to say goodbye to Selena, Camilla, erm… me." He swiped his head to stare at a bush but spoke up quickly. "I think that may be that? I think it's fair if you don't try to think about it now, since there's a lot of troubling things happenings, but you should take your time to consider it when you can. It's a pretty important choice and you really need to look at both options before speaking up." He sighed. "I think I know what I'm talking about here?"

"… And what do you think?"

"Well, I think you should try to remain with us, but that's just me." He spoke. "It'd be a shame if you ended up cutting off your bonds. But I know that you're your own woman, and I don't want to control your own destiny." He said. "Furthermore, I-" And she didn't need his super hearing to know that sound had been made just a few meters away from the group. He didn't sheath his sword though, and when Beruka drew her axe on instinct, he gently tapped her on the back of the hand. The assassin glanced at him but lowered her weapon, aware that Corrin would not let her do so if they were facing anything dangerous.

The young prince took a few steps forwards and glanced into the bush, seeing that there was no apparent danger, he took the decision to take a few more steps, and gestured at Kaze, Shura and Beruka not to join him yet. Beruka raised an eyebrow in concern but once again, decided to trust him. A wise decision that the two men next to her also decided to emulate. Perhaps he didn't want the lone survivor to be spooked? A group of people bearing down on them just after such a massacre would probably be seen as a threat.

"Hey." Said Corrin, at a bush. He spoke slowly, clearly and held his hands out. "Don't worry. I'm not a foe." He said, before moving his hands just a little higher, perhaps in a bid to demonstrate that he was serious. "The monsters are all dead, you can come out whenever you want to."

The bush rustled just a little and several tenses seconds happened before a spear shot forward out of the bush, aimed for Corrin's chest. He reacted to it, but didn't see it as a threat. And he was right in his assessment , since his black armor, even when he was wearing a relatively lighter version, prevailed effortlessly against the bronze weapon, causing it to snap against his chest. The assailer, though, immediately threw the wrecked weapon at his face and clumsily rolled out of the bush. Fortunately, the prince caught the spear and moved to try to very gently grab the person by the shoulder, preventing them from running off.

"No! Let go!" She yelled, struggling against his hand. She only relented after about twenty seconds of struggle, and she would've perhaps done more if she didn't accidentally spot the other "Nohrians" gathered. Or perhaps she was just confused at Kaze's appearance. Either way, her struggle soon ended, and she dropped her head a little. "Just… do it." Said the young survivor. "I'm so sorry, ma!"

Corrin narrowed his eyes in concern. She was speaking Hoshidan, a particular dialect from its countryside. Summoning forth his knowledge of the tongue, Corrin knelt over to the young girl "Calm down." He said. "We're not the enemies here, we're-"

"You're the ones who sent those Faceless things into the village!" She said, and that Hoshidan anger rose right back up as she began to bash at his hands. He hardly reacted, and she must've noticed it, because she stopped again. Beruka got a bit closer, but not enough to scare her further.

She had jet-black hair and thick eyebrows, along with wide black eyes. Going by her size and voice, she was about of Elise's age, and even had the youthful freckles to go along with it. Her clothing was relatively simple, being common Hoshidan attire with a small brown cape. She didn't seems to be a soldier, but to her credit, she was a bit broader than the average girl her age, perhaps due to farm work? She had some fire to her though, in spite of how fragile she looked.

"We are not the ones who sent the Faceless into your village." Reassured Corrin, though that was without a doubt a meager reassurance for the young girl. "Those who did it are cruel men whom I seek to oppose."

"W-well, you could do a better job at that!" She fired back immediately, before glancing at the ground and at her surroundings. Upon spotting her village in the distance, the little girl gasped before wheeling around to face Corrin. "W-what happened to the other people of my village?"

"I… I cannot say just how much it saddens me to say this, but I think you're the only survivor." The young man glanced at her and while he was saddened, he nonetheless kept his composure enough. "The monsters who did this have all been killed though." He let go of the Hoshidan, but she didn't take her chance to run away, since her legs crumbled immediately. The young woman brought her hands to her eyes and knelt on the ground, letting loose a flow of tears.

"My village… my people… No…"

Corrin stood over her, clearly horrified, and even Shura seemed at a loss of words. Beruka herself felt a sting on her heart upon seeing the young girl's crumbled form. Even the assassin that she was knew just how much it hurt to lose everything, at the hands of far-away people who couldn't care less. Eventually, after about an eternity, Corrin slowly crouched and held his hand. "I'm sorry." He said. "I know that none of my words will be able to mend your pain, but I still want to apologize to you." The young man sadly shook his head. "The country whom we fight for has caused you tremendous pain, but I want you to know that the people responsible will receive what they deserve. I promise."

The young girl sniffled a little and looked up. "You… Mother always said that vengeance won't bring us anything." She said, sobbing a little between words. "But… I can thank you for trying to apologize at least."

There was probably no point in getting angry, now. But it was hardly a good thing, from Corrin's point of view. The way the girl sat up, just staring at her village with a blank expression… She probably thought that she was done for. And she pretty much was. Even if she survived the night, the young survivor would have to wander the countryside, now unsafe thanks to the Faceless. Sure, she could be saved by some wandering Samurais or a passing Ninja, but she could also meet the wrong crowd or end up into the dangerous wilderness.

And they couldn't just show up, as Nohrians, and put her in another village. Well, there was that town, but she'd be lost and would probably be without anyone to really bond to. They could take her in, but then… then she'd have to live with the rest of the Nohrians, the nation that took her village. It'd probably be kidnapping to do that to her outright, but at the same time, what choice did he have? And what else could he do? He would not simply return without saving at least one live. He had to try. She might refuse. It was especially possible that it would happen, but he just wouldn't feel like the hero he was supposed to be.

"Erm… what's your name?" He asked. It'd be better to try to establish contact with her. Luckily, she glanced at him with a look of confusion rather than fear or anger.

"My name's Mozu." She said, a bit flatly.

"I'm Corrin." He said. She simply nodded and pointed at him.

"I knew that. They spoke of you." She said. "The people of the big cities. They often talked about the arrival of the prince. Whenever they stopped, they'd say they couldn't wait to see him… People sounded happy, all until they didn't." Said Mozu. "I heard something happened, but we figured that nothing would happen. They had defenses and… and the soldiers that passed by, they often said that we were leading a big invasion. I couldn't get everything they said but it sounded like we were winning! Why… No… What were these monsters even doing here then? Why did these soldiers even leave?"

"The war has… reached Hoshido." Said Corrin. "I'm sorry about your village, and about all the other innocent villages that may be targeted by these beasts."

"That's a bit easy to say…" Answered Mozu, some edge creeping into her voice, though she soon stopped.

"Mozu… What are you going to do next?" He said. She moved as if to speak, but deflated all of a sudden, realizing that she would be sent to wander across Hoshido. Realizing this, he moved his hand to her. "I… I know that it won't replace your village, but I can't just let you wander away into danger. Say, what do you think about joining my group?" He said, somewhat insisting on not calling it an army. "We have a way of preventing you from joining fights and I guess that you'll find a… temporary residence here. I'm under no delusions that it will ever replace your home, but I at least want you to find another in the midst of this insanity."

"J-join you? W-would I walk along Nohrians?" She bit her lips before seemingly giving up. "Well, I guess there'd be no shame in it. B-but what purpose would I fill?" Mozu asked, perhaps fearing that Corrin's sweet demeanor concealed some depraved man. He quickly realized (or envisioned) whatever she was imagining and moved to correct her. "No, no not that! It's a bit hard to imagine but I've got a place where you can stay at and where people won't harm you. You won't need to participate in stuff like cooking if you want. It'll be a free roof for you, and you won't need to worry about anything. You'll be under my protection and I will except nothing else in return."

"I… Is this a trap?" She asked. "I'm sorry, you sound nice. But I can't so easily trust a Nohrian. Not after what they've done to my village. I guess that there are nicer ones, and-and I know you're likely one of those, but it's hard to hear it from a Nohrian."

"Then what about from an Hoshidan?" Said Kaze, stepping forth. Mozu snapped her head at him in surprise before putting her hands on her mouth. "You… you're from Hoshido too? I won't be alone?"

"I do hail from Hoshido as well." Said Kaze, speaking in Hoshidan. Not that this particularly meant that the conversation was beyond the trio's ability to handle. All three spoke Hoshidan. After all, to know about an enemy, one must know his tongue. "You've suffered greatly. Do know that we intend to take a stand against the people who did those atrocities. Prince Corrin intend for it to stand." He said. "I know that it will be hard to trust Nohr, but the people who did it will fall by the end of it, and I swear that thi shall be done in your village's honor."

"I see… Erm, thank you." Said Mozu. "I don't understand why a ninja would work with Nohrians though…"

"Lord Corrin is a man of peace, though he is ready to take action against evil. His path is a long one, but in the end, we will both return to Hoshido." He said, warmly. "I will not bar you from taking your own path, but please, heed my words. The countryside is not safe for the moment, and Corrin has the means to keep you safe from fight."

"… Well, I'll trust you." She said, even smiling a very little. "Even if you hang out with weird people."

"You just haven't seen Kohgajin hairstyles." Said Shura, putting his hand on his hair. Beruka simply blinked. Until now, she had never really reacted to being called weird, but somehow, Mozu calling her that broke her composure just a little. She figured that it was simply the shock of herself, a confidant assassin, simply being seen as weird by the young girl.

Kaze and Corrin let out some small chuckles, and the former gently took Mozu's hands. She threw one last look at her village and shook her head. Both knew that she would never move past the scar in her heart, but at the very least, she was already on a new path. As ninja and villager began to walk away, the latter almost being a daughter to the former, Corrin sighed in relief. At the very least, Mozu had been saved. He just regretted that he couldn't say the same for her village.

"You did good. Needed that push from Kaze but heh." Shura patted Corrin on the back. "Nice little wholesome thing. Almost makes me forget the part where we're in a war and may just drop dead tomorrow." Noticing Corrin's horrified face, Shura backed off. "Kidding." He said. "All of us are just too tough to randomly get felled by a random arrow, heh." They began to set out. Corrin did decide to get in front of them, just in case a random Faceless roamed.

She wondered how he dealt with his hearing. Having to constantly deal with the information would be rather exhausting, and she even considered asking him how he he managed to filter the information. How he cut through the meaningless chatter, the sounds of the wind, the sound of something being moved, the footsteps of some random soldiers meters away… However, Beruka knew better than to interrupt someone who was in the middle of something. Not that he seemed to be particularly busy with his work, since it mostly involved listening. He even turned around.

"… Do you want to resume our conversation?" Said Beruka. Shura, who was looking at the village, looked down at her, confused. The young man stammered a little and then shook his head.

"M-maybe once we're alone." He said, though he fumbled badly since this only made Shura more curious. Putting his hand on his chin, he stroked it while staring at both Nohrians, bearing a wicked smile on his face. It reminded him of Niles, though Shura seemed even more malicious for some reason.

"N-no! It's not what you're thinking! It was really serious talk!" He said. "So please, don't get any funny ideas!"

"I'm getting all the funny ideas, kid." Admitted Shura. Beruka glanced at Corrin, pondered on what to say and simply pointed to her axe. Shura didn't quite back off but he did raise his hands and chuckled.

"Well anyway… Lord Corrin, I can appreciate saving someone, I really do, but what are we going to do with her? Just stick her into that orb portal thing?"

"Y-yeah. That's what I planned. Maybe she'll come out when things are quiet." He pondered, before lowering his voice slightly. "Not that they will. We'll get into the thick of things soon after all…"

"Yeah… But well, there are worse places to be in those times, ya know? I certainly wouldn't mind being in a tiny world with a lot of soldiers at my side." He admitted. "I mean, if I were a civvie, that is. Besides, there's some vegetable fields so she can use them if she want."

"In her defense… Would you feel safe if you were surrounded by Mokushujin soldiers, even if they were apparently sworn to protect you?" Corrin winced when Shura's casual expression made way for a glare that would send chills down the spines of the bravest man, but he relented. "I get your point… I hope this'll show her that not all Nohrians are evil." He said. "but let me be honest, kid, she's probably not going to silence the opposition. A lot of folks like here may lose their villages to Nohrians, and we won't be there to save them this time. And I know that you and the others are fine people, but we know that there will some Nohrians who will be doing shitty things."

"I know. But… I guess I just wanted to help while I could. I know that there will be… some moments where we won't be able to help out, so I want to make sure that we at least managed to help with that. "

"I understand it." Said Beruka, who had little stakes in the matter anyway. She could appreciate Corrin's enhanced strength and confidence though, and a part of her felt… glad, perhaps, at his success? Regardless though, it'd be hard to introduce Mozu easily. Corrin certainly had good intentions but she may be seen as a spy, and while the soldiers respected Corrin and the royal family, it was possible for them to attempt to bully her, or perhaps worse, if they felt that she could be a spy.

Her paranoia worked up. Perhaps she was a spy, too. After all, her sob story could allow her to easily sneak into the camp, and it was mighty convenient that she managed to make it that far when those monsters had been rampaging around. She'd ask her, why, perhaps she'd even drill her in, but she felt that doing so in front of the others would get her too much grief from the others.

Not like she cared, of course, but the interrogation wouldn't work with that many people around. All she could do was to wait.

"Still, I do wonder how we can stop these assaults." Declared the young man. "I think I'll try to stop Iago, or I'll get Xander…"

"I doubt that he'll stop. Only King Garon, at that distance, can threaten Iago into stopping and he probably asked for it in the first place." Said the young woman. "The Faceless invasion is devastating, of course, but we might as well focus on the task at hand. We cannot allow ourselves to split our attention at a time when we will start the greater offensive against the strongholds."

"You're right but I'm… I feel a bit pathetic just casually allowing it to happen." Said Corrin. "I'm going to ask them at least."

Beruka nodded, and focused on getting home. The village vanished from sight, disappearing into the darkness.

…

The Wind Tribe found its origin in the waning days of the provincial war that led to Hoshido's status as a superpower. Having been bestowed legendary weapons by the dragon deity that her province worshipped, and having sufficiently trained herself and her children in the art of battle, Queen Makoto began a ferocious conquest of the continent, effortlessly defeating her rivals one per one. Her ninjas effortlessly overcame the assassins sent her way, and even her children, while not as deadly as her, were strong enough to lead conquests on their own.

All cowered in front of her. All but Prince Kazuko, from a province that unfortunately failed to mark history like he did. Legends said that the hot-headed young man intended to raise a colossal army to stop Hoshido's advance once and for all. His parents, however, intended to merely surrender, in the hopes that they would be able to keep some form of power or at least be spared of destruction by putting their arms down. Of course, if the prince decided to strike, then the negotiations could be shut down or Hoshido could order for higher compensations to make up for it. And, obviously, they were never going to let their son run off to his doom, nor would they simply agree to have him lead their people into a doomed battle.

When words failed, the rulers decided to banish the Prince and stripped him of his title, sending him away from home so that he wouldn't try something. Outraged at this, but also determined to save his country and parents, Kazuko merely got unto his horse and left the province along with some trusted soldiers of his. Aware that he wouldn't be able to raise an army without his royal status, the prince decided to go to the east, where ferocious winds made the ground barren, in the hope that the endless gales were made to hide some powerful weapon that would be able to single-handedly reverse the tide of the conflict.

What exactly happened during the expedition, no one really knows and historians of various camps argue to this day about it. A variant tells that Kazuko failed to find a weapon, but apparently stumbled upon a tribe that was threatened by either bandits or, according to the public's age, a ferocious monster. After slaying them, the prince decided to give up on his journey and settled to rebuild anew. Quite a few versions, however, added that he did it under the hope of attacking Hoshido again, though old age took him long before his nascent country could build up the military strength for it.

Another variant had Kazuko find enlightenment instead of a weapon and give up on his dream, deciding that he was better off respecting his parent's wishes. Either way, he formed a tribe in a region constantly battered by the winds, and such a feat was definitely commendable. After all, the Nohrians who were in the middle of walking into his footsteps definitely had a hard time with the strength of the wind that was crashing down upon them.

The horses whined as they attempted to step forward (prompting some of their riders to descend from them and help them progress), though they managed to do somewhat better than the soldiers on foot, who found themselves battered in one direction and then the other with seemingly little warnings. But they themselves weren't envying the wyvern riders, who had to deal with the extraordinary strong winds. Only Beruka, Camilla and a few select experts were still riding their mounts up in the sky, fearless of what would happen if the gale's endless attack eventually got the better of their pet.

"Ahh… Can't you do something to counter all that wind?!" Said a soldier to a dark mage, both struggling to continue on. Next to them though, a general clad in heavy armor was casually walking along, wondering what the fuss was all about.

"No… It's going to get better after a short while, come on! The wind won't kill you like arrows, swords and spells can!"

"At least I can defend from those with a shield!"

The soldiers were being led by Tello, Xander and the rest of the royal family as a show of solidarity to the men and women that they were currently making wade straight through the maw of the spirit of the wind. The latter's constitution allowed them to hold up somewhat better to the wind than the others, though Elise saw fit to use some rope to hang unto her horse "just in case!"

"We're in deep trouble if those bastards decide to ambush us!"

"If they do, they will learn that all the fury of the storm cannot deter the strength of Nohr!" Said Xander, in a bid to inspire Tello, though he himself apparently thought something similar. It'd be easy for the inhabitants of the wind tribe to ambush them in the current storm. Rumors said that they knew when the wind would strike and from when, and placed deadly attacks during that precise moment, before promptly vanishing along with the gale when it attacked.

"We should be done with this soon. The Wind Tribe's frontier has intense winds in it, yes, but the whole region obviously isn't quite like that." Said Leo, about the only one not bothered by the wind. Not because of his spells, though. It was just that hard to faze him, even for a powerful tool like this. "We should soon arrive to a point when we will be bale to relax…" He smiled a little. "And I think that this will occur sooner than you may think."

"Well, I'd like for it to occur now!" Commanded Elise, spreading her arms a little as if she could single-handedly stop the wind with her sheer strength of her limbs. When it actually did, the blonde girl looked down at her hands in awe, and raised them carefully, almost as if she were afraid that she could kill someone with them. Behind her, the winds still raged, but the first soldiers to emerge noticed a somewhat similar situation after a few more steps.

There was still a wind brewing, and its howl could be heard across the entire region, but it was much milder. Almost refreshing even, as attested by Tello's decision to take his helmet off to enjoy it a little. Realizing that his soldiers could be seeing it though, the virile general promptly put it on and took a harsh facial expression. This amused Corrin a little, though he soon refocused back on the trip at hands to properly soak in the sight of the wind tribe without all that wind.

It was a bit hard to believe that some many people could apparently both decide to settle here and actually make good on that promise. It's not that the land was barren, but it sure looked… fairly arid. There were some patches of grasses from what he saw, and the sun was present, well, perhaps too present in fact. There were no signs of clouds and if it weren't for the gale, those soldiers with heavier gear would end up cooked inside the shell meant to protect them.

Now, of course, it was close to Hoshido, so it wasn't entirely barren, but it was still a curious sight. And one that Tello seemed to notice.

"Heh, odd country, isn't it?" He said. Corrin turned towards the bald man, who offered him a worrying smile. He couldn't help but be reminded of Hans whenever he saw him, to the point where he wondered if both men were somewhat birthed from the same parent. Of course though, he had never asked. Being compared to the general of the dogs of war wouldn't please the Nohrian general.

"Yeah… Well, we both saw Nohr, didn't we?" Answered Corrin. Tello laughed a little, seemingly surprised that the prince would give him such an answer but being quite pleased with it.

"Heh, don't worry. It's a smaller part of the eastern side of the continent, we'll be back to greener pastures soon." Answered the general. "And the actual blades hidden beneath them, of course."

Corrin prepared to retort, but he noticed that a small group of people were approaching in the horizon. Too few to even stand a chance against the army, especially with the royals leading it, but a bit too much to be a mere greeting party. They weren't particularly trying to hide themselves. Not like they could, given the topography of the region (which had only a few large stone hills and some trees struggling to stay alive), but there was a boldness to them that almost worried him.

Was it a four-way attack? Were those warriors merely a distraction before an impeding assault? Regardless of their intent, they meant business, and it would be wise to warn the others. Corrin raised a finger, but found that he didn't really need to. While he could actually see the people, the others could very well see the black dots fast approaching in the horizon.

"Corrin, how many of them?" Said Xander, soon understanding that his little brother would be able to identify them from that distance. Corrin glanced, but it took him a few minutes before he could start to identify them. Luckily, they weren't clad in Hoshidan attires. They weren't even clad in much attire in fact. One man wore a furred jacket that left their chest exposed, and for some reason that he couldn't fathom, he had decided to bring some brown pants with holes in them. He also wasn't wearing shoes, though he had plenty of small cosmetic over his body, like an impressive necklace or a bunch of rings on the arm, or even a small crown of a sort.

A woman next to him wore a similar jacket but had an upper apparel similar to what Rinkah wore, and she had red pants. Her crown was a bit bigger and she had some metal gloves covering her hands. The rest of their friends were as similarly lightly equipped, revealing some very muscular toned bodies. For a second, Corrin envisioned an battle where the wind tribe inhabitants would somehow punch the entire army into the ground using nothing but their muscles, but he dispelled that thought very quickly.

"They're from the Wind Tribe, I think. They don't have much clo… ill will apparently, but we should remain cautious."

"They could serve as a greeting party." Said Tello. "But watch our flanks, just in case. You need to be as paranoid as you can in wars."

After what felt like an eternity, the two groups met. Corrin and Xander both decided to get off their horses, so as to avoid looking down on the Wind Tribe inhabitants. Not that they reacted to it, though. They all stood with a frown, observing the huge army in front of them with something akin to irritation instead of fear. However, two of them stepped forward, apparently to match the "diplomats" sent their way. Corrin held his hand out upon coming into contact, but they simply glanced at his hand before bowing slightly. It was politeness, but the way they did it somewhat felt like they were chiding for him for forgetting proper manner. The princes thus decided to follow their gestures, raising up at about the same time too.

"Greetings, inhabitants from the Wind Tribe. We, of Nohr, seek no quarrel with you. We merely wish to peacefully pass by to reach the Infinite Stairway. None of us intend to commit any form of harm upon your citizens, and we will thrive upon our own resources for as long as we stay here. We only ask that you accept to let us pass through."

"Those demands are fair, crown prince of Nohr, and we accept to let you through." They spoke surprisingly good Nohrian, albeit with an accent. However, before either men could thank the woman who spoke, she (and the others) smiled, and then pointed at Corrin's sword.

"You, who wield the blade of dusk. Our leader would like to meet you." She said. "He desires to talk to the one of the prophecy. You will go with us, to meet Fuga. The rest of the army may proceed, but two trusted advisors may be allowed to be taken along."

Corrin tilted his head, somewhat having trouble with the information, and Xander promptly stepped forth. "With all due respect for your leader, who has demonstrated his might to Nohr, we never were informed about this."

"Fuga doesn't wish to have the entire Nohrian army remain too close to the capital. Understand our hesitation, concerning what some of your countrymen have been up to." Said the man. "Prince Corrin and his chosen ones will be treated with respect, and will be sent back to the army once Fuga is satisfied. Which should take far less than a day. If you refuse, then you may no longer pass."

"You could force your way through, but would you do that?"

"… I would not. I am not like the brutes who gave you that sad impression of our country…" He looked down upon Corrin. "Are you fine with this, Corrin? This is…"

"I understand. It's a fair business." Said Corrin. Nothing he could say could matter, and he could bet that Fuga would have good explanations for him. It could be a trap, perhaps, but they would need to join the Stairway as soon as they could… And besides, he was confident in his chances of emerging alive even if it was an ambush. "I cannot say no and endanger the mission. The army will continue its path and I will meet Lord Fuga."

"… I see." Xander nodded, regretful but aware that he couldn't oppose it. "But who will you take with you?"

Corrin turned to look at the army and began to think…

…

**A/N**: Yo! Sorry for my absence, I took the train yesterday so I decided to delay the chapter by one day to add some more meat to it!

We now get into chapter 20! Fuga's wild ride! It's a bit crazy how we're at that chapter. The ending probably isn't that far away now. I think it's fair to say that we're past the halfway point, even by a little. Roughly… 65% of the fic, perhaps a bit more. But I don't want it to end yet, I'd be sad!

What did you think of the origin story for the wind tribe and Mozu's paralogue? Reviews are greatly appreciated and I truly enjoy having them! Keep 'em coming!

See you later!


	32. The test of might

The Wind Tribe capital stood at the peak of a tall stone mountain. Now, how smart it was to build one's capital atop such a giant structure, in a land where the wind is harsh enough to potentially knock someone off their feet at its worth, Corrin didn't quite know. Fortunately though, the stairway to the capital had been carved into the mountain itself, and apart from a few small windows that had been carved as well (to give them some air and light, and also show just how high up they were getting), it was hard to feel the wind outside. They wouldn't be in danger of falling off it anytime soon, at the very least.

In fact, when Corrin glanced outside, he felt the odd urge to just unfurl his wings and fly around. He knew that he had an important meeting to attend, and that "I just wanted to fly and have some fun" would perhaps not be a good excuse, but the urge to fly was hard to resist. As a result, he had to look down on the stairs and avoid looking up, so that he may not glance at the horizon. Unfortunately, the people that he picked to accompany him didn't quite seem to understand why he was almost cowering away from sight.

"Lord Corrin, it's perfectly fine to be scared of heights." Reassured Gunter, who politely only told Corrin such things when he was sure that their guides weren't listening. And it's not like the second person, Beruka, would care much, though she glanced a bit at the dragon prince whenever the older man attempted to get him to confess in his fears.

"N-no. I'm fine with the height." Said Corrin. "I've been this high before and I wasn't scared. Heh, remember Beruka, when we flew in Notre Sagesse? I wasn't scared back then." This got Gunter to glance curiously at the wyvern rider, and she contemplated answering with ignorance or implying that he didn't quite take to the flight well. But then, she remembered that unlike Niles, she wasn't the type of person to squander away a question.

"You probably want to fly." She theorized. He looked surprised at that but quickly nodded affirmatively. Gunter smiled a little in disbelief but then remembered that his "son" could, indeed, fly around. Even if he had seen it with his own eyes, it was probably still tough to adapt to it. The last time he met Corrin, the young man was still new and fresh to the ways of the world. He was skilled, but naïve and vulnerable to the manipulations and deceit of those around him, and Gunter honestly wasn't sure that he could survive in the harsh world that awaited him outside.

Now though, he had participated in many battles that shook the continent and had gained a much greater control over his draconic power. Between Gunter's seeming death and their reunion at Izumo, plenty of time had passed after all. Still, he couldn't help but worry a little. He was still his "boy" after all, and he wondered just how well he handled the strain of war.

"Right… my apologies, it's still a little difficult for me to adapt to those changes." He said. "Plenty has happened in my absence, has it not? I truly wish I could've been there to help you along with it."

"You had a mission, right? And besides, don't worry, I had people to help me around. Don't feel guilty about not coming sooner too, since we were moving around so much." He said.

"Regardless, how will you justify hand-picking this seemingly random knight, Corrin?" Said Beruka. "The others looked surprised at your decision, and I'd rather not have to come up with an excuse again like with Mozu."

"Heh… Well, I could always say that I didn't want to surround myself with tough bodyguards to show that I'm confident in my ability to survive if ambushed, but also not dumb enough to go in without companions? Huuh, not that I think of this as a trap!" Their guide simply looked back at them and shook his head. Upon reaching the end of the stairs, he simply opened a large metal door, letting the sun wade in into the tunnel that they used to ascend. Beruka, Corrin and Gunter covered their eyes (or rather, Beruka closed her remaining eye), a bit nonplussed at all that light, but their sights recovered fast enough for them to look at their surroundings, stepping forth out of the tunnel.

Corrin could only stammer out a "Whoah…". The Wind Tribe capital wasn't quite as beautiful as the Hoshidan's, and it obviously wasn't as enormous and decadent as Windmire, but it nonetheless had some very serious charm to it. The buildings, made out of material tough enough to withstand the winds, had some plaforms and balconies between them to cover some streets, making it easy for shops to put forth their products without risks of it being blown away by the wind.

Some less lucky ones were left in the open though, so they had to use some unique means to prevent a thief or the gale from taking away their products. At least one had several green fruits, each tied down by a rope. Whenever someone paid for a fruit, the merchant would untie the rope, hand over the fruit and then tie the rope to another fruit.

"Lord Fuga will be receiving you soon, but he is currently being informed of the progress of your army through the region. Prepare yourself to be invited in the coming minutes but do take the time to experience our culture." Informed the guide. He pointed at a large building, marked with the kanji for "wind". It was smaller than Izumo's castle, but that was probably because of its particular position. While the top of the mountain was large, it couldn't really take too much place nonetheless.

"Hmph, remain close, Corrin and Gunter. We may be summoned soon." Beruka waited for Corrin's answer, but it failed to arrive. She rose an eyebrow and quickly wheeled around, realizing that both men had gone AWOL. Or rather, Corrin had moved towards a merchant within one of the protected streets, and Gunter had decided to follow him. Hiding her irritation (with only a single twitch of her mouth, admittedly), Beruka walked towards them. The crowd was busy, and her small height compared to some of the larger people walking around didn't play in her favor, but she simply pushed her way through the crowd, with the larger specimen being too surprised at the idea of being pushed back by such a small girl to really stop her.

"Hello, how much for that fruit?" Asked Corrin. The particular lady he was speaking to had red hair tied into a ponytail, and her features were akin to a Nohrian. Notably, she seemed to immediately recognize him, or she reacted to his particular features at least. The young woman immediately sprang up from her slumped posture and put her index finger on her cheek, using her left arm as a support for her right arm's elbow.

"Hello, prince Corrin! That fruit? Ah, but which one?! I have the famous Hoshidan Papaya that only grows at a specific time in a specific part of the country. Or the Nohrian apples, of sour taste but able to provide great nutrition nonetheless! But if your tongue yearn for sweet delicacies, then fear none, for I've got some pears grown in the fine grounds of Izumo! But if you desire something a bit rougher, I've got their equivalent with those lemons! I almost feel sad selling them to you, because once you'll be done eating them, you're going to be yearning for more!"

"Ohh, that's a great pitch!" Said Corrin, right as Beruka reached him.

"You should pick the lemons. They're quite good." Recommended Gunter. "They'll keep you awake too. You really need those in the war. I remember back in the war, when we were in a camp deep in enemy territory. Those lemons saved us from sleeping and potentially allowing our enemies to walk in." He reminded himself of. The three people near him stood in silence before deciding to put aside the fact, Corrin took the lead by pulling out some money and handing it over to the merchant, who answered by swiping them away so fast that the young man's almighty eyes almost failed to keep up with her motion.

"Good, then as the older gentleman said, you should pick out the melons! I can guarantee you, you won't need to sleep for a while! Hey, you won't be sleeping by the time the war ends! That's how powerful that lemon is! It's sour but sweet!"

"Isn't that bad?" Said Corrin. "Not sleeping until after the war is done, I mean. Don't we all need to sleep?"

"Well, you certainly need to live more! And with those lemons, your chances will increase! No risk of pesky ninjas getting in!"

Corrin shrugged and turned around to give the bag to Gunter, though he already picked his own lemon to eat. Indeed, it tasted sour. Perhaps a bit too sour, since his face crunched up as if it was somehow trying to wrap itself into his skull. Seeing this, the merchant giggled, since quite a few customers came her way after seeing the effects of the fruit.

"Pleasure doing business with you!" Thanked the merchant, as Corrin moved away. Gunter and Beruka stared at him. In amusement for the former, though the latter was a bit confused at Corrin's reaction.

"That'll you not to eat anything you see, my boy." Said Gunter. This prompted Corrin to forcibly try to un-crunch his face for the purpose of responding.

"W-well, I didn't know it'd be that sour. And it's because everything is enhanced for me, senses-wise. So whenever I taste something… well, there's a reason why I don't really like spicy things." He muttered at the end. "And, well, we trekked through a while of desert so I thought that you'd like it. Well, maybe I should've picked something else than that lemon because it really is sour."

Gunter bit into it, and smiled a little. "A bit too sweet." He said. Beruka did the same, and while the taste was perhaps a light challenge to overcome, she ultimately didn't find it anywhere near as hard to accept. "Hm, I've drunk sourer water."

"W-whoah. You guys have discipline!" He said. Corrin observed how Beruka did it and promptly began to imitate her, attempting to hide just how sour the taste was by staying stoic no matter what. It obviously didn't work, since Gunter pinched the bridge of his nose (albeit with a small smile), but it seemed to somewhat amuse a bunch of children near him.

"Mom! Look! He has long ears!" Said a child, pointing the prince out to his mother. Gunter glanced at the child in horror, briefly, but then relented.

"Hm… I'm going to admit it, few in Nohr would be bold enough to say something like this." He said, once the children walked past. "But I was still worried about how the world you perceive you once you finally moved away from the fortress."

"I was a bit worried too but it doesn't really matter to me anymore. I'm working hard and proving my worth as a person, so people will know to look past my weird ears." He said. "And red eyes, and, erm, teeth."

"Humans will hate each other for reasons as simple as what they believe in or what skin color they have, Corrin. While I'm glad that you've mostly encountered people who seems tolerant of it, I would still recommend being careful. For some people, what you look like is much more important than what you are." Once he was done, the knight stared away wistfully before focusing. "But few would outright insult a prince of Nohr like this, so I wasn't really worried."

The small trio sat down at a bench, close to the palace. Corrin was still attempting to conquer the lemon, while the other twos were done by now. "Say, how did you meet this particular lady? You seems to trust her."

"We met at Port Dia, erm… I guess she should introduce herself."

"As we've spoken about before, I am Beruka, Lady Camilla's retainer and trusty assassin. I've encountered Lord Corrin at Port Dia, and the war has pushed us to fight alongside each other many times by now." She said. "And I am generally more reliable than some of the quirky fools he has around him, so I assume that he rather wisely decided to depend on me for such an important mission;"

Corrin stammered. "W-well, they're quirky but competent!" He said, scratching the back of his head. "But yes, Beruka has saved my life many times over, and I'd trust her to watch my back."

"Hm… I'd recommend against doing that with an assassin, but it does seems that Miss Beruka is someone to trust. I was hoping that you'd meet someone you could see as this reliable." He declared.

"Yeah, there's also Azura but you know her." Continued Corrin. "I would've taken her along, but her song can help exhausted soldiers carry on and I… I mean, she's always a bit clingy sometimes, so I don't mind having the occasion to breath a little. I mean, she's a good friend." He nodded quickly. "But she can be a bit secretive about things sometimes. I know she means well, but the way she endanger herself with some of her missions at times, it upsets me. Because, well, she's putting her life in danger and also because she's not allowing me to help her out, and it's clear that she needs it!"

"I understand your point." Said Beruka. "You wish she would be somewhat straighter with you, then?"

"Yeah… But I don't, erm, dislike her at all. She's a good friend." He said.

Gunter hesitated a little before he continued the conversation. "And have you ever felt like Azura may want to be a bit more than that?" He asked. Luckily for Corrin's dignity, the people of the tribe were giving the Nohrians something of a wide berth, and the older man decided to keep a pretty low tone of voice so as to avoid being potentially heard by a civilian.

"Hm? She'd want to be my best friend?" Answered the young man. Beruka narrowed her eye, but not because of his denseness… Well, perhaps because of it yes, but her issue was just how _artificial _it was. It's quite clear that he was putting up a front, either because the issue was a bit complex for him to tackle or simply because he didn't want to get romantically involved while a war was raging about him. She wouldn't mind either, but it was a bit hypocritical of him to chide Azura over her secrets while also playing coy. But at least, she could acknowledge that it was probably tough fo him to speak of it like that.

Luckily for him, bigger issues stepped forth when their guide met up with them, with a lemon in hand. "Lord Fuga require your presence. You did well in getting closer to the castle." He complimented, prompting Corrin to nod. The Nohrians got up and began to follow their guide, silently putting aside the current conversation for now. Making their way through the crowd was fairly easy, and they quickly reached the gates of Fuga's castle. There wasn't much in the way of defense, aside from one heavy-looking gate and two severe-looking guards. The gates to Krakenburg were already much more well-protected, and even Shirasagi had some of the most fearsome-looking people on the planet guarding its metal doors.

"They tend to be open, but with what happened in Hoshido, we can't really afford to be nonchalant." Said the guide, casting a look at the trio. "Understand that you will likely be watched, and do not see this as hostility. Just take it as precaution, for one, I require that you deposit the weapons you were carrying right after entering. Do not worry, they will not be tampered with and they will be given back to you after the meeting."

The door opened as the guide spoke, and when they entered the castle, they could see that it looked a bit larger than it looked. While Izumo tried to blend in both countries's styles at once, The Wind Tribe had an eastern aesthetic to it, though while Hoshido's architecture was beautiful, the tribe's building was a bit rougher and sharper. The white stone that made up most of the castle truly looked like it had been carved away by the wind, after all, and some tiles were outright cracked. Several windows had been built into the walls, each rather small to prevent someone from sneaking in, but it still allowed the wind to easily pass through. In front of the group, there was a little desk, with about 7 heavily armed guards. At least two held some scrolls, and they were a bit scattered so as not to potentially all get wiped out by a surprise attack.

"Your weapons, please."

Gunter took off his sword and a javelin that he had tied to his back and handed them over. Beruka, meanwhile, just sighed and gave away five tomahawk axes, two silver axes, one small spear, six daggers, a large hunting knife and three poisons pellet. The guard in charge of handling the weapon stared at her dumbly for a moment before daring to speak up. "You'd take this many weapons with you for a diplomatic greeting?"

"Yes." She just replied. "And I still have two more." Before he could order her to deposit them, Beruka raised her hands and clenched them. The guard laughed, but in a genuinely amused manner.

"Ah, I guess that's Nohrian humor for ya." He said, not alarmed by her words. However, he quickly had to end the conversation when Corrin prepared to dump Shadow Yato into the bowl where their weapons were meant to be placed in. "Wait, you have to keep your weapon." He said. "Well, at least that one. If you have some more regular sword or something on your person, please deposit it."

"I don't." Said Corrin, who proved himself correct. "Erm, except maybe that special stone that allows me to turn into a dragon."

"Do place it here then."

Corrin shrugged, picked up his stone and placed it amongst the other weapons. "Please, don't lose it. Or else I might, erm, lose control over my abilities." He said. "That'd be a bit bad. But hey, can I ask why I need to keep Yato?"

"Fuga himself shall tell you." Was his reply, and the three were hushed along. Corrin already missed the warmth that the stone provided him with, but he felt like he had gained enough of a grip not to go berserk. And beyond that, he still had Yato! Gunter, however, was a bit more suspicious, watching the movements in the castle with suspicions. The ambiance was nothing dangerous, but people seemed almost excited for something. Beruka was also watching over the situation, looking at just how eagerly the workers within the castle were trying to finish their task.

The only one who didn't pay much heed to the situation was Corrin, who approached a large red gate.

"Lord Fuga will be seeing you-"

The gates swung open, courtesy of the sudden appearance of a large, muscular bald man. Like his male subordinates, he wasn't wearing anything above his white pants and black sandals, though he had a large black necklace and his stomach was partly covered by a black belt made out of some metal. Some purple cloth was wrapped around his waist, eventually splitting into three sailing cloths of a sort. He had some rather thick black eyebrows in place, and stared sternly at Beruka, Corrin and Gunter. However, he leaned forward all of a sudden upon seemingly recognizing the knight. Gunter, in answer, made a surprisingly sly smile and lowered the hands that he held on his back until now, spreading his arms in a unusually inviting manner.

"Ah, Gunter! You old bastard!" Said Fuga, losing all traces of his stern demeanor and walking up to Gunter to embrace him in a manly hug. Gunter laughed, of all things, and did the same thing. "I was informed that some lowlife thug had gotten the better of you! I'm glad to see that you lived past that!"

"It'll take more than some dimwit's axe and a fall into a canyon to kill me." Retorted Gunter, after scoffing lightly, smirk ever present. "I'm disappointed, but not surprised, that you'd be naïve enough to believe me dead!"

Fuga folded his arms. "Oh, I just know that you're certainly on the fragile side now." He said, unfazed by the insult. If anything, he seemed even happier after hearing Gunter's barb at him. "You certainly let yourself go, you old bastard! In your heyday, you would've eaten a hundred punks like those for breakfast!"

"We can't all be single-mindedly focused on power!" Said Gunter. "While you were running around swearing a storm as mighty as the winds of this tribe, I had quite a few things to take care of." The older men's glances turned towards Corrin, who had been staring at the interaction with a slacked jaw. Beruka helpfully raised her hand and closed it for him, unfazed by the events herself.

"Ah, yes! Corrin" Fuga patted the young man on the shoulder, doing so with such force that the young man was almost surprised the slap didn't slam him through the mountain where the castle stood. "I've heard much about you! You've been taught by Gunter haven't you? I hope this crusty bastard was not too harsh on you!"

"Mister Gunter was, erm." Corrin struggled to find the words. Were all the leaders this side of the continent so casual? It's not that he disliked it, far from it, but it was certainly a bit odd. "He was a very kind father to me!" He said.

"Ah, he's had experience with it, haven't he? But what of your wife and child?" Said Fuga, turning towards Gunter. "Did you ditch them to raise that dragon kid?" The Wind Tribe's leader frowned a bit when he noticed the way Gunter's smile dropped.

"Well." He said. "I'm quite afraid that something happened to them in the interim." Said Gunter.

"Ah… I apologize, my friend." Declared Fuga immediately. "I spoke too quickly, it would appear."

"I do not blame you. Getting informations on the on-going in Nohr is always a bit complicated." Said Gunter. "… Well, a bit too complicated for a knucklehead like you to get." He said, straining his smile a little. Fuga, seeing an opportunity to escape the conversation before it got too awkward, smiled as well. "I'm surprised you even learned about my apparent, and highly exaggerated, demise and status as counselor to the boy." He said.

"I was informed of both by Mikoto. I'm quite glad to know you live, though." Said Fuga. "Just as I'm happy to finally meet you, Prince Corrin. Some matters kept me from visiting you in Hoshido, and I'm glad that you accepted my invitation." He said. "I've heard much of your exploits."

"I… I'm glad, but do know that some are a bit, erm, exaggerated or twisted around." Said Corrin.

"You're humble!" Said Fuga. "This is good. For the youth, hubris can more dangerous than blades or spells are."

"Pot calling the kettle black, heh?" Gunter made a more genuine smirk and Fuga seemed to agree a little with his words, as attested by his knowing nod.

"I know that we probably ought to speak of the matters that summoned you here, but allow me to ask who's the third girl accompanying you?" Said Fuga. "She must be quite competent if you handpicked her to accompany you."

"I'm Beruka." She said. "It is an honor to see you."

"Beruka? Ah, you're the one who defeated Mikoto's retainers in combat." Said Fuga. "You've made a little name for yourself as well! I can see why he would select a combatant as capable as you to accompany him." Beruka tilted her head slightly and nodded.

"Thank you for your praises." She said, as politely as possible. She knew that Fuga wouldn't mind familiarity, but she rather disliked interacting casually with anybody, really. And Gunter, surprisingly, was already dishing out more of it than she was confortable with. When the older man asked to join Corrin, she excepted that he'd do so because he could use his experience to guide them around. Was it to reunite with an old friend?

"Well, now that this is dealt with… This will only take us perhaps one or two hours, and I will arrange for an escort to quickly bring you back to your army." He said. "The matter that I would like to discuss relate to your particular sword, Yato." They glanced at Corrin's weapon, and all three understood why that guard was insistent about the youth keeping it. "It has been decades ever since my eyes beheld the weapon, but never under such a particular form. How did you discover it, if I may know?"

"I, erm… obtained it…" Corrin stammered. He was confused by Fuga apparently witnessing the weapon beforehand, but his lapses were also caused by the memories of that scene. The sheer devastation in the capital and all those dead people... He would be happy if some shock to his head caused him to lose his memory of that particular event. "It was buried beneath the statue of the dragon at the main square. When that hooded man…" He choked a bit. "Did his crime, the statue was destroyed, and Yato was burned beneath. Then, it flew to my hand."

"I see… I apologize for making you trudge through such a memory." Said Fuga. "I assume you're aware of the nature of this sword, right? It emerges in time to help the hero at a time when the world is threatened. There is a rather heavy duty on your shoulders, boy, and I would very much like to see if you can live up to it. Follow me."

Corrin nodded, though he was curious at what Fuga would mean. Nonetheless, all three Nohrians started to follow Fuga through a straight path. Curiously, the room they just left had no ceiling: The clear blue sky was hanging right above their head. This quite confused the youngest people within the little group. They could understand why there would be that hole, since it brought them closer to the wind (or whatever excuses they could come up with) but it made Corrin smile rather than look awed. The people below probably looked a bit silly whenever it started to rain. Beruka, meanwhile, just thought that it would be very easy to deal devastating damage to the castle itself with an attack from above. Being located in a mountain helped with that, perhaps, but with the power of magic, Nohrian mages could use fire orbs to accurately fire projectiles easily able to cross the distance and strike directly into the capital. Those projectiles were both faster and stronger than regular rocks while also exploding on impact, further causing damage. While not necessary for sieges, they were useful when one wished to lay waste to a structure.

"If you ask, the ceiling can be powered through magic." Said Gunter. "The people at the Wind Tribe are a bit too reliant on flashiness, but not even Fuga would allow this hole in his defense to remain."

"Not even me, heh? Remember who coordinated the defense when that Qliphoth strike team laid a surprise attack on us?" Fuga, who had been listening, turned around. "I shudder to think of the stories of me that you taught to Lord Corrin."

"You did fight them off, but you also did so by pulling out your sword and running into them." Chuckled Gunter. "But I will admit you saved us right then."

"So… Well, I knew you were friends with Lord Fuga, but you know, I never realized you were this friendly with him!" Corrin laughed a little. "It's a bit weird, i-if you don't mind me saying that! I'm just so used to you being… Erm…"

"Serious." Said Beruka, completing it for him. Corrin snapped his fingers and pointed at her in gratitude. Fuga laughed all the more loudly, his voice alone being stronger than any storm.

"Well, one changes as they age, Corrin." Taught Gunter. "Back when I was your age, perhaps a little less, I was quite a bit more, erm, relaxed, so to say, then I used to be."

"Heh, you were as stern as you currently are." Declared Fuga. "Whenever we partied, you were always the one who ended up requiring us to stop! You always had an old man's soul, my friend."

"I was just making sure you wouldn't walk into a fight with a nasty hangover, my friend." Declared Gunter. "Had we stuck by you, the Qliphoth army would've stumbled upon half our camp drowning in their bile! You can excuse my somewhat stern behavior… But even then, I was a rather ambitious knight. And Fuga was a young monk." The old knight smirked in triumph. "With a head full of hair."

"A rather low blow, old man!" Retorted an amused Fuga, his mighty eyebrows raised in surprise. He decided to turn away to focus on higher matters, like ensuring that they'd enter some form of room hidden away by a black gate.

"Well, as I said, I was a bit different from what you know. In my younger days, I was a knight eager to reach glory, so I volunteered to join Garon in his raid against Qliphoth." Said Gunter. "I met this young monk from the wind tribe, and we worked together to defeat those madmen. It was quite a sight to behold. Hoshido, Nohr and the countless other nations working together to defeat a threat to our lives… Never in this continent's history had such a thing happened." The old man sighed. "And I fear that such a sight will not be beheld by future generations until long."

"Hm… I was led to believe that Nohr defeated Qliphoth while Hoshido merely provided the materials." Said Beruka. "But it always made no sense to me. As mighty as Nohr is, they could not have beaten a formidable nation on their own."

"N-not much of a patriot, heh?" Teased Corrin. Beruka glanced at him with one eye, but then understood it to be a "joke", so she decided to react to his joke by simply looking away. He looked horrified for a moment. "S-sorry Beruka!"

"Well, both countries would rather not reveal that they worked together so closely nowadays. Nowadays, Nohr is seen as the leader of the front, yes, but Hoshidan stories depict brilliant generals and skillful soldiers leading brutish hordes unto their foes and generously granting them their resources to ensure that their shoddy equipment would not break upon encountering any manner of armor." Gunter stroked his chin.

"What really happened then?" Said Corrin. "Does this means that Garon worked with King Sumeragi? And when did you see Yato?"

"Ah, patience, my boy! You'll soon learn what truly happened." Declared Fuga. "I'm interested in telling you the whole truth, just as I'm interested in telling you about the sword that you wield. You are a child of two worlds, who met a crossroads, and your nature is quite… unique. It would please me to accompany you in battle again." He then glanced at his subjects. "But I have higher priorities right now, so I will give you the truth about Garon and Sumeragi, as well as the sword that empowers you, and see what you will do with such informations."

"With all due respect, my friend, you assume that I haven't told him the full truth." Said Gunter.

"And with all my considerable respect for you, I've seen Yato up close. You were a skillful knight and a high-ranked member of the army for a good reason, but I have beheld the power of the royals more closely." Said Fuga. "Please, do trust me on this, Lord Corrin. I would like to see the sword's power up close."

"And you will do so by… having me fight your tribe, right?" Said a wary Corrin. Of course, things were going too well for a fight not to be present somewhere. However, Fuga noticed Corrin's irritation and decided to reassure him. Though how exactly the following reassurance would help, Beruka didn't know.

"No. I merely intend to have a duel with you." He said, almost casually. "We will have a short fight to determine your strength and worthiness. I ask only for this, Lord Corrin. Should I prove satisfied, then I shall heal you of course, but I will also explain to you the full context behind this war… As well as the way to unlock Yato's potential." He gestured to the sword. "You can always refuse, of course. But I will withhold the information."

Corrin looked at Fuga as if the latter had just swallowed a hairy spider. "W-what?! You… you'd want me to fight you?!"

"Of course." Said Fuga. "It will be a duel between you and I. No cheating. No intervention from a third-party and no transformation into a dragon. It ends when one of the combatants is knocked out, unable to fight any longer due to exhaustion or tap out." He continued. "I do know that the offer can be suspicious, but I promise that I intend to have an honorable fight, and will honor the end of my bargain."

Corrin bit his lips. What if he hurt Fuga? He seemed strong but if he was a contemporary of Gunter, then he was probably old. By this point, the dragon prince was confident that he'd accidentally harm the wind tribe leader further than he intended. He actually didn't care much about the full context too, but he figured that this could help him find a way to prevent another war in the future? The talk about Yato did interest Corrin though, and he threw a look at his sword.

He had always felt it incomplete, but not because he read up on it. He just "knew", it was an evidence to him, like knowing how to breathes or walk. But he didn't know the mechanic behind its evolution. And since it provided great power, it would be undeniably useful to learn how to use it.

"Would I not hurt you?" Said Corrin.

"Hehe… We will see when it'll be time to fight." Answered Fuga. "I apologize for surprising you with this question, but I felt that having my diplomats precise the exact condition of the duel would cause Lord Xander to keep you close. I'm already quite lucky that he accepted to send you with three people." Said the bald man.

"You did somewhat force his hand by denying him the opportunity to pass through." Said Gunter. "And you waited until they entered the territory to do so. And you knew that Lord Xander would be too honorable to simply force his way through, and would need your guides to cross the country's ferocious winds." The older man folded his arms. "You've become a bit of a trickster, haven't you?"

"One does need some guile when politics are involved…. But I do regret my little trick on you all. Regardless, do know that I respect Prince Xander." Said Fuga. "He did manage to overcome Hoshido at Goemon's Trap, and has treated the captured villages well. Anyway, Corrin, I can assure you that I am quite capable of weathering your blows. In fact, I would be greatly offended if you held back on me." Fuga's stare grew stern. "Understood?"

"O-of course." Said Corrin, a bit intimidated. Fuga instantly regained his more jovial manners, but the young man still turned towards Beruka. "S-should I do it?"

"Yes." Said Beruka. "You've grown stronger, and he has useful informations to give." The assassin turned to fully face Corrin. "You have bested tough foes and overcame great danger numerous times. I do not believe that he is frail." She said. "But if you focus, you will be able to overpower him and seize victory by crushing his skull and hopes." Beruka pumped her fist a little, but relented when Corrin stared at her with wide eyes. "… You will get him to say "ow". Certainly."

"Ah, a Nohrian motivation speech!" Declared Fuga. "Well, I do believe that we are decided. Come on, Corrin, do show me the power of a prince of Nohr!"

Fuga opened the last gate, leading to a room with a circular arena in it. It was lit by some torches, and some benches stood on the side, presumably for spectators. Gunter and Beruka sat upon them, and noticed a young man on another bench. Unlike the beefcakes that seemingly made up the entirety of the palace's male staff, he was quite tiny and frail-looking, though his first order of business when the two Nohrians spotted him was to pump his chest.

"Ah, Hayato!" Said Fuga. "I apologize for reserving the room. I do hope that you're here to cheer on your old man."

"Of course." Reported the young mage. "I'm here to continue the fight if you strain your back!" When Gunter scoffed, however, the diviner's composed tone made way for childish rage quickly. "H-hey! What who you're speaking to, geezer! I'm the son of the chieftain!"

"I don't care." Said Beruka, turning away to focus on the fight. Hayato said a few more insults but they failed to be heard by her or Gunter. Fuga chuckled and pulled a katana out of its sheath, while Corrin also did the same but with Yato. The two fighters, in accordance with the rule of a duel, bowed and then took their respective fighting stances. Fuga held out his weapon in front of him with both hands, while Corrin leaned backwards slightly and held Yato close to his face with both hands, blade turned towards Fuga.

"_He's about Gunter's age. I'm going to try to tire him out and then end it-"_

Corrin couldn't really describe what happened next. At one moment, he was holding his weapon and steeling himself for the fight. The very next one though, the young prince was stumbling backward and pressing his gloved hand against a bloody nose, blinking in surprise and tossing a confused glance the way of Fuga. The older man had easily crossed the distance separating them, and had his fist held out. His affable attitude had quickly made way for a stern glare, hinting at his focus, and his usual enthusiasm was not present in his following words. "Too slow."

Fuga moved swiftly with a punishing slice, but Corrin intercepted it with Yato. The two blades clashed, but to Corrin's surprise, the rather regular blade held its own fine against the weapon crafted by the hands of a dragon god. His senses allowed him to see a swirling wind current around the sword though. Yato wasn't really touching the blade: It was "touching" the wind against it. Aghast by the most unusual technique, Corrin left himself wind open for the bald man to raise his leg and smash his midsection with his knee. The impact was already more painful than Corrin had expected it to be, given his nature and the armor he had on, but then the air around him warped and even outright imploded, catching the youth off-guard and hurling him meters away. Corrin flipped in mid-air and stabbed his feet into the ground, sliding off several meters backwards until he managed to come to a skidding halt. He sighed in relief but then heard the sound of raging wind, and his trained eyes spotted Fuga just above him, holding his sword as if he was prepared to smash the young dragon with it.

Instead of blocking, Corrin avoided the blow and leapt past his foe a few seconds before impact. Then, he whipped around and leapt again but right at his back this time, aiming to try to slash him in the shoulder. The wind blew forth again before such endeavor could be reached though, and once again, their blades met. The two men then immediately did their best to try to overpower their attacks, swinging their weapons many times over in a blinding display of skill. Neither actually tried to hit the others in key spots such as the head or heart, but for outsiders it very much looked so. Their clashes didn't quite create sparkles, thanks to Fuga's unusual techniques, but it did send a lot of cold air current around the room, causing Hayato to shiver a little. Eventually, Corrin saw an opening and ducked in a manner that allowed him to dodge Fuga's slice and he immediately moved to uppercut him. To his surprise, the blow actually worked, and the wind tribe leader was blown off his feet. At the same time, it felt a bit "odd", like he was punching something else than him. That was likely the wind, though the element seemingly failed to protect Fuga from the uppercut's full effect.

It did allow his jaw to hold strong, though at the same time, Corrin made sure not to make the blow too potent. He was seemingly a bit stunned though, being unable to get back on his feet while rolling and seemingly taking two seconds to recover from his daze once he managed to stop rolling away. Corrin smiled, sensing an opportunity, and leapt at his foe!

The young man put one hand on his weapon and leapt towards the downed Fuga, intending to knock him on his bald head with the pommel of his sword. Then, before he could manage to actually make contact, a muscular hand shot up and grabbed his wrist. The momentum and strength behind the blow allowed it to almost hit Fuga's head anyway, but he was spared from the wrath of Yato's pommel regardless. Stunned by this, the prince once again left himself exposed for a direct hit to the stomach, courtesy of the older man's fist. Instead of being blown off his feet though, the dragon simply kneeled this time, almost letting go of his weapon but managing to keep it in his grasp.

He wasn't actually all that wounded, but the bald man's blows nonetheless packed a huge punch. He could actually feel that lemon from earlier going up his throat, and his eyes were so wide open that they could almost fall off. Seeing thus, the older man mercifully decided not to strike and simply got up. "You're a bit stronger than I thought!" He admitted, before pointing at the back of his head with his thumb. "I was actually a little scared when I grabbed your hand and it kept moving anyway!"

"A… gack…" Corrin took a few steps back but almost fell on his bottom. In a bid not to further humiliate himself in front of the three spectators though, he gathered the willpower to stand on his own two feet and eventually stood up straight. "You… how are you doing this?"

"I'll tell you after the fight!" Fuga winked. "Ready?"

"Ready fo-oof!" Said Corrin, receiving a surprise jab to the face by Fuga.

Gunter winced in sympathy while the wind tribe leader quickly threw his katana into the hand that just socked Corrin, and used his now free hand to sock him across the face once more, actually knocking the youth off his feet. The dragon prince landed on his feet again, but was immediately attacked with a swing of Fuga's sword. And the very next blow quickly put the youth on the defensive, forcing him to fend off the assault without being able to strike back, constantly having to fend off whatever attacks came his way while hoping that he could place one. Unfortunately, Fuga was skillful with his sword, too much for Corrin to overcome at this point. So instead, he hoped that the older man would tire himself out while attacking, and set on the defense.

Beruka was watching this from her spot. While she was initially content to lay back and watch, the surprising strength deployed by Corrin's adversary quickly got her interest in the fight, and she now watched it with her arms folded, curious as to how he could keep up. Gunter wasn't surprised though, rather, he seemed to be expecting it. Not that this made watching it any easier for him. While Fuga wasn't going too hard on Corrin, he was still being pushed back and struck. Not a comforting sight for the man who taught the boy how to fight.

It also wasn't too pleasant for Beruka perhaps, but she was a Nohrian and she knew that he had recovered from worse damage.

"How can he be so strong?" She openly questioned. "I've seen Corrin easily tear his way through Facelesses and armies, why is he being pushed back?"

"Fuga is a crafty warrior, is he not? He's trained ever since our younger days. And for whatever reason, it seems that it paid off." Said Gunter. "Not only is he as agile and strong as he was in his prime, but he's using some sort of odd wind technique to protect himself while also allowing his attacks to pack more of a punch. And I doubt that Corrin is going all out… Though by that same token, it is very unlikely that Fuga is giving it his all either."

"What a cheap trick." Said Beruka, folding her arms. "… But useful, nonetheless."

"I'd be sad too if my prince got so easily bested in direct combat!" Said Hayato. "Fuga's been training before that Corrin guy was even born! No wonder he's beating him!"

Beruka ignored Hayato and focused back on the fight. Corrin's mighty defense was meeting its match with Fuga's offense or perhaps… perhaps it'd be more correct to say that he was outmatched. After landing a blow strong enough to mess up Corrin's footing and let his stomach wide open in spite of the parry that he put forth, the bald man clenched his fist and once again landed a blow on Corrin's chest, buffeting him away with the miniature tornado that was created by the strike. The prince harshly landed on his back, disoriented, and shook his head, attempting to regain his bearing before Fuga struck again.

"Do you give up?" Asked the bald man, from out of Corrin's vision.

"N-never! Not in any lifetime!" Answered the prince, defiantly, as if he was fighting for his life. Admittedly, being this roughed up in front of Gunter and Beruka was still an humiliation for him, and the pride born from his victories against the Faceless, the Hoshidan or even those reanimated corpses was feeling very threatened by this beatdown. As he put his hand against his hip, he felt like there was a sudden weight on his pocket, causing him to glance down to notice that his stone was back in its pocket, as if it had teleported straight into it. Time slowed down as he recognized the weapon, and his eyes widened slightly as its calling. It didn't matter what the conditions were, wasn't it? He could just transform into a mighty beast and force the older man to reveal his secrets. He had tricked him and everyone in the first place, why hold back?

But then Corrin shook his head. It wouldn't be proper to do so to a friend of Gunter and someone who had been courteous enough until the last five minutes. And while he could surely heed more arguments, Fuga was already back on the attack, jumping up and attempting to hit him with a downward, wind-coated punch. Casting his doubts aside, the young man dodged the attack and grabbed the arm, using all his available power to overpower the wind current, and successfully breaching it before the leader could pull his arm back. Then, he stabbed Yato into the ground and swung the tall man over his shoulder and into the ground, with so much power that he bounced off it, though he suspected that his wind armor helped with that. The older man then skillfully spun around and landed on his feet, only to be promptly attacked again and again by Corrin with Yato!

This time, the younger man put more effort into his attacks, and struck effectively, seemingly overpowering his foe with each sword swing. The more he continued his attack, the more the wind barrier was breached. Fuga realized this and attempted to back off but the young prince constantly followed him, and prevented him from gaining any respite. Soon, the gale vanished from Fuga's katana, and Corrin saw an opportunity to win the fight by getting his foe to surrender. Raising his sword above his head but also making sure that he wouldn't accidentally strike the older man, the prince cleaved Fuga's katana in half with a firm strike. The strength of such an impact broke Fuga's footing and he leaned to the right, allowing Corrin to hit him directly with his shoulder. Once more, the wind barrier didn't do so well at blocking the attack and its owner was sent to the ground, with his sword ruined.

"Do you give up?" Asked Corrin, with a content smile in his face, glad that he managed to get his revenge. Fuga, however, wasn't nearly as bothered by the demand as the dragon prince was, and chuckled lightly.

"Absolutely not, young man." He said. "I've trained to measure up against the wielder of Yato, and I'm only getting started!"

"You'd fight me with a broken weapon?" Asked Corrin, shortly before Fuga socked him in the face. This time, the young man managed to block with his elbow but he was nonetheless driven backward a little. Fuga then used his wind-boosted agility to leap over to the other half of his shattered sword and yanked it in his hands before turning around. It was a rather sharp piece of metal, and he seemingly willingly allowed its edge to stab into the palm of his hand. Some blood leaked into the ground before that wind armor appeared over his arm and hand and into the sword itself. The other broken half, with the handle and hilt, also had some wind appear over it, though it took a precise shape instead of vaguely hovering over whatever it was protecting, forming the end of a sword. In practice, Fuga now had two swords to deal with his enemy.

"With two!" Taunted the bald man. He had looked stern before, but now he had swung at the reverse of that and bore a worrying grin and large wide eyes. That, combined with his willingness to hurt his hand to grip a weapon, made Corrin wonder just how much he remembered his own rules. "The first time I fought Yato's wielder, I received the quickest defeat of my life! I yearn to see how far my training has taken me! Please, do not hold back! Give it everything you have!" And with this brief bout of encouragement, Fuga swung back into action, skillfully using his two swords to attempts to overwhelm Corrin with a storm of attack, with "storm" being both literal and figurative in this case.

Determined not to lose as well, the dragon prince threw himself into the fight, swinging with abandon. His foe was powerful, but his wind sword was brittle, easily being destroyed whenever it encountered Yato in a direct confrontation. However, it would then easily reform and swing back. And most of the time, it hardly encountered Yato, being used for aggressive swings instead. The sword that encountered Yato was the one on his left, which was more durable and could encounter the legendary blade more often.

Corrin narrowly dodged several blows and recognized a pattern of several powerful yet quick blows with the right hand, and defense with the left one. While Fuga could create wind blades of a sort, the prince would be at an advantage if he destroyed the remaining sword. After all, if Yato could slice through them, Fuga wouldn't be able to defend with them, and would either need to dodge all of Corrin's attacks, which seemed to be difficult for him, or manage to subdue him using nothing but offensive moves.

The prince ducked beneath a blade and moved to try to blow apart the sword on the right, but his weapon actually met some resistance, with the prince realizing too late that the wind blade was coming at him. Luckily, even in his rather excited state, Fuga knew not to harm the youth, and a light slice was done to his cheek instead! The crafty old fox had switched both his weapons so as to trick Corrin! Instead of being worried though, the blue-haired youth smiled and swung back into the action, using his sole sword to fend off two, both men going at with everything they had while the spectators watched.

As the match dwelled though, it was clear that Fuga was looking to end the fight, deploying more and more eccentric attacks using his two-handed style. As powerful as he was, he was still somewhat bound by human rules, and his stamina was failing him. Corrin could keep up though, and in fact, he'd still be here by the end of the day if he felt like it. This difference in their stamina was realized by both fighters, and as a result, Corrin fought defensively, repelling the older man's strikes and constantly dodging his blows.

But he wasn't satisfied yet. He wanted to make it decisive. That hidden part of him that craved for a fight wanted to have the chance to beat Fuga while he was still at his best! Words couldn't describe the humiliation that he'd feel if he won using the older man's limited stamina. So Corrin decided to take the bait and slowed down ever so slightly, making it look like his adversary's rush was slowly chipping away at his defense. The veteran knew that this was mere acting, but his smile made it clear that he intended to take Corrin by surprise and overwhelm him while he wasn't expecting it. And he quickly made good on his implied threat, grasping both his weapons and swinging with an overhead strike with all his available strength! Corrin could even see that his arms, and only his arms, were coated in wind, as if to maximize his striking power. Yato was raised so as to counter it but the young man fell to his knee quickly, almost overtaken by the power raised against him!

But the strike hadn't been enough to truly best him, and while he was initially beaten, Corrin was only encouraged to grasp his weapon with his second hand. Fuga's composure quickly fell aside when he noticed that his full-power strike, already fended off by Corrin's one-handed defense, was about to be answered in kind, and he backed off right as he swung his sword upwards, backing off promptly to try to gain distance and time. But Corrin saw an opportunity and followed him, striking downward with one hand again. The cornered leader of the Wind Tribe deployed his swords in a cross formation to block, using his the more durable blade to block and the other blade to try and provide a "boost" of a sort to the other. This allowed him to block, but the bald man couldn't enjoy his earned respite, not when Corrin moved with his free hand and swung his fist at the two gathered swords. His fist easily tore through the weakened steel and the wind that made up the other sword, casting such a shock that Fuga took several steps backwards in shock. Shards of the sword flew at Corrin but he ignored them for now, and they only provided him with light cuts anyway.

And then, with a triumphant scream, the young man grabbed Yato and used its handle to uppercut Fuga. Devoid of his wind armor and fatigued, the older man flew in the air briefly before almost falling unto his back. "Almost" because Corrin chose to grab him so as to prevent the fall in question, leaping up to the leader and stopping his fall with his hand before both landed on their two feet. However, the bald man's legs quivered and he eventually knelt, with a satisfied smile.

"I guess that defeating the user of this legendary blade would take more than one lifetime of training." The wind tribe elder moved to get up, but then fell on his backside, prompting him to simply sit as if he were meditating. "I forfeit. You've won, Corrin!"

The prince of Nohr smiled and raised his weapon over his head, pointing it at the ceiling. He was out of breath, and had a pretty bad cut on his cheek… But he had won! He kept repeating that to himself in his head. He had triumphed!

"You did well, Corrin." Said a voice, pulling him out of his stupor. The youth blinked and lowered his head, noticing that Beruka had rejoined him. She was actually smiling at him, as if proud. "Don't ever forget that feeling, alright?"

"Well done, Corrin." Continued Gunter, clapping after having taken off his metal gauntlets. "Few men on the continent could beat Fuga in a one on one!"

"… You did sort of well at the end." Piped in Hayato. The youth hadn't left his bench.

"Well… I guess that it's time for me to say the truth, since you've earned it." Said Fuga. "What would you like to know? And would you want for your wounds to be treated first?"

"O-oh, it'll close on its own." He said. "Well, maybe we should get you some bandages though. But first, if you don't mind it, erm… When did you see Yato for the last time? I mean, I knew there had to be previous owners but…" The prince stopped when he noticed Fuga's quizzical stare. "Is there something wrong?"

"Well, I thought you'd know that." Fuga glanced at Gunter. "The previous owner of Yato, and the person who wielded it in the war against Qliphoth… was Queen Mikoto, your mother."

…

**A/N**: Dundundun! Here we are! Big twist!

I intended for the fight against Fuga to be a bit longer but it'd drag out the pacing, so I cut it a bit shorter. I do hope you enjoyed the battle sequence with him though. It's probably a bit wild by FE standards though!

Anna cameo! I like her too much to skip her and it was one of the last times when I could have her be relevant as a merchant, since Corrin and Friends probably won't be shopping anytime soon now.

This weekend, we're going to get some things about Qliphoth, and things will get back on track for a shorter version of chapter 21! As usual, I love reviews, so keep them coming guys!

See ya next time!


	33. The shadow of Qliphoth

Corrin blinked and quickly wiped his forehead before tapping his ears, as if Fuga had said something totally different and the youth's usually powerful hearing failed him for some reason. "I'm sorry?" He said. "You mentioned that the previous owner of Yato was… mom? I mean… I know that she was a powerful magician, but I never imagined her to be a powerful swordswoman." The youth focused a little. "Not because she's weak! But because she doesn't sound like someone who'd really use weapons or even violence, you know?"

"That is understandable. Mikoto championed for peace and refused to go to war with Nohr even when Hoshido, and her own heart, cried for vengeance." Declared Fuga. "And she never was a violent woman anyhow. But, Corrin, with all due respect it is possible for people to change, and the woman you knew wasn't born with the righteous striving for peace that she applied for the rest of her life."

Gunter sighed and sat at the bench while a bunch of healers moved in to take care of their leaders. While Corrin had suggested bandages, it took only a staff for the leader of the wind tribe to be cured of his wounds, though he still seemed a bit fatigued. Corrin himself politely denied the use of one, since he didn't quite need it. "It all started when Qliphoth invaded. As you know, they landed south-west of the continent, and tore their way through the helpless countries in their way before matching Nohr. However, for every slain invader, five more would emerge, and while Nohr lasted far longer than any other nations, ultimately it ended up overwhelmed as well. The royal family was even chased off Windmire." Continued Fuga. "But however, they formed a rebellion to fight their oppressor and grouped with other scattered groups to raise their numbers. And when Hoshido and the other countries from the east of Kossatsu launched an attack, the Nohrians and their alies joined them. It took months of harsh fighting, and it seemed like the enemy had the advantage for a few moments, but the coalition ultimately got the upper hand, after much difficulty."

"Do we know why the inhabitants of Qliphoth even started invading?" Said Beruka.

"They intended to take the resources available." Said Fuga. "But otherwise, they made no effort to simply capture territory or keep prisoners around. What they could burn, they reduced to ashes. And what they couldn't burn, they found a way to destroy. Only Windmire was really left standing, and it appeared that they had no intention to keep anyone on the continent alive." The older man crossed their arms. "While their soldiers could recognize our language, they refused to speak it, and they would kill themselves if captured. The sights that I've seen… As a young monk, I was quite shaken by the stories of my ancestors about what they would do to defeated foes and civilians."

"They were more akin to beasts than men." Contemplated Gunter. "After killing one, I was surprised to lift their helmet to discover that he looked the same as me. A regular man, trust in a war, and without a doubt influenced to commit evil because of the hierarchy of his country."

"The coalition repelled Qliphoth and headed for Windmire, but the general in charge of the invasion spitefully decided to unleash a potent spell across all of Nohr, though I theorize that it was made to cover more perhaps. Nonetheless, the royal families of both nation managed to speed across Windmire, defeated the foes in their way and cancelled the ritual. However, the blight had taken over Nohr." Said Fuga. "And as a result, the country that you grew up in was born. On top of that, while Qliphoth had been defeated for now, they would certainly come back. As a result, an alliance was agreed and repairs started. The spell was quite complex to undo given its origin, and they only partially managed to reverse it across the years. Qliphoth attacked some more, spreading damage each time. While they thankfully never managed to complete their ritual, since they probably wanted to acquire resources and it took time to trigger, the continent still feared another invasion. Eventually, it was decided that for the good of the continent, we would need to reach the enemy and beat them directly. And King Garon and Sumeragi, then newborns, were trusted to take care of that."

Corrin listened patiently, though he wondered when his mother would enter the picture. Beruka simply watched. In the Nohrian telling of the events, things were of course different. Nohr with timid Hoshidan help bested the invaders, and the ritual was entirely stopped by the hands of the dusk country, at which point the Hoshidans half-heartedly worked to undo it but actually wished for things to remain this way, since it would make it easier to control the plagued Nohr.

And she couldn't help but wonder just how much truth could be found in Fuga's words. He likely had some bias on his own too, since he was likely taught this by elders from the Wind Tribe while growing up. At least, Gunter not stepping in to correct him proved that he was maybe right, since the older man would not allow Nohr to be dismissed so easily; Furthermore, he grew up at a different time, when Hoshido and Nohr were allies, as temporary as it was, so it was likely that he had been taught the truth.

"King Garon and Sumeragi were taught everything in the art of war, and their brothers and sisters were also trained to wield the legendary weapons. It was a glorious effort to gather an army across the continent and have it be led by some of the most gifted people in our time, or perhaps all of history, wielding the strongest weapons known to man… Well, the reality was that both Garon and Sumeragi were teenagers in the end." Said Fuga. "As soon as they saw one another, they became intense rivals. And, hey, this is how we met Gunter, haven't we? I was Sumeragi's friend, and you were Garon's retainer."

"Yes. It seems that old age and all these blows to your head have done little against your memory. But he's correct that they both had some rivalry against one another." Said Gunter. "It took them a while to get along, to my admitted surprise. Sumeragi as a young man was wild, impetuous and cared little about etiquette and proper manners. And Garon was… very much the same. I had to stop him from deliberately doing something stupid more than once!" He mused. "I thought that they would get along with their similarities, but they both disliked each one another at first sight, and would often engage in macho competitions to prove their might to one another."

"Even Ikona and Katerina hardly got along." Said Fuga. "At times, they were encouraged to fight by their fiancés but they managed to stand firmly above it. Heh, the summer house where we lived was meant to be a landmark and the place where several young geniuses would elaborate strategies but it was far less glorious in effect! We more akin to a group of wild teenagers rather than anything else. We were skilled at combat, of course, but our forefathers probably never intended that the warriors who brought down that empire of doom would be a bunch of rowdy young people."

"I was quite worried that we'd all get ourselves killed after landing on their beaches." Said Gunter. "But eventually, a friendship grew between them, as they trained together and discovered more about one another… And as we sailed on the ship, your mother came into the picture." He pointed at Corrin.

"She looked very much like you." Said Fuga. "Apart from the blue hair and draconic features, you have nearly the same face, and even the same mole under your lip." The bald man put his hand under his lip. "She was a fair bit younger than the rest of us, and a bit nervous, but there was a fire in her eyes when she asked to come along for the fight. Apparently, she was a warrior from a far-away land burned by Qliphoth before, who caught wind of our plan and came along to help."

Corrin dropped his arms and stared intently at Fuga, surprised by the story presented to him. Beruka griped his arm lightly and he relented though, since it'd be a long speech even without any questions. He stared at her, but she glanced at him back unflinchingly and he relented, dropping a small apology.

"We didn't take her along at first." Chuckled Gunter. "We didn't want a spy to keep track of us so we put her in a cell. She didn't resist, but insisted on her innocence rather strongly, and watched up seemingly leave from her cell." He said. "Then, she got bored of waiting and just escaped from her cell, while knocking out two guards on her way. Then, she leapt into the ocean and swam after the ships in the horizon. Once she arrived, she made her way to the ship and asked to accompany us to Qliphoth. Of course, by that point, we could quite say no, and while we put her in a cell, she made it quite clear that she could escape whenever she wanted to."

"This made her all the more suspicious for me."

"Oh, you're right, but there wasn't much we could do, so we kept her around. She always insisted to help." He said. "And proved rather… klutzy." The older man chuckled. "But she never asked to help with anything too important and was rather polite. Mikoto really does remind me of you, Lord Corrin." Continued Fuga. "Always a bit nervous, timid, overly polite and fidgety, but nonetheless a noble soul;"

"Erm, thanks? I'm glad to hear that you consider me as that close to my mother."

"She got fairly close to the Royals, and was always questioned about that odd sword of her. Yato." Continued Gunter, taking storytellers duties with Fuga. "It was an odd blade, clearly not built by the hands of a Hoshidan or Nohrian, but they felt an odd power run through its blade, according to what they had to say. She was courteous to everyone and quickly made bonds." Said Gunter. "When we asked her about her past, she was naturally evasive but nonetheless came up with names for her family, what was done within it, when Qliphoth invaded and other reasons. I still didn't quite trust her, but we had arrived on the shores of that country."

"Qliphoth was a tropical country. Way different from our idea of some kind of dark twisted empire. When we arrived unto its golden shores, the soldiers promptly came upon us, but the power of Garon, Katerina, Sumeragi, Ikona and the other princes and princesses of both countries made them an easy prey. And Mikoto proved her worth in the battle through her speed, agility and power, even if she seemed rather confused by the violence of the conflict."

"Yes. She was skillful in combat, but she always made sure to protect the civilians or the wounded soldiers, even when they were still lashing out against her." Said Gunter. "The others saw it as odd. Qliphoth did destroy everything that she held dear, why would she live them alive?"

"Well, the civilians and the people who ruined her country are not the same, right?"

"That was her explanation as well. Garon saw it as odd, but he didn't hold it against her." Declared Gunter. "He was much more reasonable back then, when he felt like it, though he reminds me a bit too much of Lady Camilla. He was loving towards the people close to him, but he didn't care much about the massacres done by his hand and could be supremely harsh even." The older man rubbed his chin. "I wonder if he was attracted to Mikoto outright? He was far less of a Casanova back then admittedly."

"Katerina would have slaughtered him." Grinned Fuga. "She wouldn't tolerate even the smallest glance in another woman's direction. He couldn't even talk to Mikoto without getting a rather angry glare his way!" This made the two men smile. "I do not know how to judge her. She was stoic and calm, like her son, but lacked his rather honorable behavior, and was a bit clingy towards her husband."

"Katerina was a particular woman, but she kept Garon straight for the most part." Said Gunter. "While she was around, he grew up into a fine man, wise, humorous yet ready to die for his subjects. And he did seem to cheer her up with his presence." The knight sighed, losing himself in the nostalgia.

"… But Ikona needed Sumeragi to keep her serious though." Answered Fuga, smart moving away from the subject. "Well, she knew how to be wise at times, but she was a bit more of a handful than him at times. Her temper was as deadly as her fighting style, for sure. When she started to think that Mikoto was seducing Sumeragi, in fact, I was a bit scared for her. Thankfully, she cleared that up in time and they got off on the right foot."

"Anyway… We moved further into Qliphoth, and while its shores were beautiful, we were shocked to discover just how barren it was after reaching further into it. We should fight hordes of their soldiers in barren plains and the sun's harsh glare was insupportable for everyone but you and a few select madmen. And the cities that we caught were rather undefended."

"I guess that this is why they were killing so many people and tearing down the cities." Contemplated Fuga. "They perhaps wished to settle here, or wanted to have the continent for themselves to make their country thrive. Nevertheless, this hardly seemed to shock anyone but Mikoto."

"Yes. Unfortunately, Qliphoth was the enemy for us, and in the face of the heat and constant attacks by soldiers, our patience had been… tested. The expedition may have looked quite jovial at first, but as we approached the capital, years of frustration were unleashed upon the population by soldiers from various nations, and most were bold enough to do it under the nose of the royals." Said Gunter. "I had to stop some rather despicable acts from being committed but that wasn't enough, regrettably. And while the royals did their best to stop this, they could not be everywhere." The knight clicked his tongue. "Nohrians, Hoshidans, Chevois, inhabitants of the tribes… to them, the people of Qliphoth were the enemy. A mass of remorseless murderers who threatened the safety of their land, and they've been taught of their dark deeds ever since childhood. Now that they had them at their mercy, they just couldn't see the cowering civilians as people."

"Gunter, Fuga, did you…?"

"No, no." Gunter shook his head. "We were both naïve but we knew that something was wrong with the ongoing events, and while I hated Qliphoth, I realized that the civilians weren't at fault. Rather, it was Samael and his sycophants who were to be blamed. Sensing our approach, he did various despicable deeds, such as burning the villages where we'd find respite and quickly sending untrained recruits to fight our army, in the hope that this would weaken our soldiers somehow. A few even had some bomb spells strapped to them, so as to avoid interrogation."

"Not everything is so easily black and white, but Samael was one of a kind… While he was the king of a kingdom in need of resources, which would explain his conquering ways, he treated his people with such ruthlessness and cruelty that I found it hard to believe that he seeked to improve the country as a whole, and not just himself. Alas, in the face of our growing advance, the citizens of Qliphoth either joined us or left the country outright. As we defeated his generals and grew in power, he became desperate." Fuga turned to Corrin. "Your mother was growing in might too. With each battle, her resolve and anger grew, as well as her bond with the royal family. Yato reached a new form, with a blue blade."

Corrin contemplated his weapon briefly, noticing the purple spark on the blade. Had he went somewhere wrong? Or perhaps the sword simply adapted to his goal? Mikoto had fought for a heroic cause, defeating a tyrant, while Corrin's own cause was definitely less heroic at the moment. Perhaps it'd change color once he'd measure up against Garon and the others?

"What is Samael's history?" He asked, curiously.

"I don't know, but Qliphoth seemed to have a monarch in place. He was a bold coward, promising death to us while hiding in his castle. Only ever coming out once all his generals had been bested and his capital was under siege. It had been a challenge, for sure, but it had been an easier victory than during the first invasion. Perhaps because of the fight with the neighboring faction, Sefiroth?" Pondered Fuga. "But we were glad to be able to end the conflict. We were all exhausted, eager to go home and eager to forget what we had seen. But unfortunately, Samael refused to give up. In his desperation to win, and as we made our way into the castle, he activated some cursed magical spell of his."

Gunter actually frowned, and Beruka even caught a glimpse of fear in his eyes.

"Words fail to describe the new depravity of his form. He had discarded his mortal shell to become a creature made out of hideous grey tar, kept alive by his sheer will power and unable to be brought down by mortal weapons. His strength was enough to easily massacre the soldiers sent against him, and when his tar reached their dead bodies, it warped them into undead beasts, just as immune to common blades as their master." Fuga frowned, unsettled by his memories. "The royals could tear through them but, alas, they ended up at a stalemate against Samael himself. While they held their own well enough, his bottomless stamina and ability to regrow whatever body part they cut off ensured his victory."

"Then why not use it sooner?" Questioned Beruka.

"Samael is a coward. Even with such power at his hands, he perhaps didn't want to expose himself to danger, even when there was hardly any for him to begin with. He also perhaps didn't see fit to trust this might to his generals, out of fear that they'd turn against him." Answered Gunter. "He was a paranoid man, desperate to get power and reluctant to give any in return. Quite vein, according to descriptions too. Not that I would know, since he had already turned into a beast of pure willpower by the time we fought."

"Things seemed hopeless. With his ability to transform dead bodies into creatures, his inhuman abilities and power he wielded, it seemed certain that Samael could transform our entire army into his slaves and conquer the world." Fuga then looked up. "But your mother refused to give up. When even Garon had seemingly resigned, she stood up and begged for the others to give her the power to slay the beast. She declared that her weapon, the Yato, would be able to pierce the beast if everyone trusted her." He said. "And then, to prove her point, she proceeded to battle alone against the monster."

Corrin looked worried for a while but nodded. It was shameful, but he already felt the tears reach his eyes again.

"She continued to fight, again and again, even when the monster battered away at her. Moved by this, the royals decided to trust her, and poured their might into stopping the monster's movement temporarily, trusting that she would be able to finish it off with one strike." Fuga said. "And… this hope, this trust, seemed to reach her sword. Glowing with newfound power, it reached a bizarre shape and cleaved the air, with such sheer might that the portion of Samael's body that she hit was eradicated." He made a lateral hand movement. "Nothing remained of it. But before he could even react, she sliced at him a thousand times at once, and his life was forfeit." The bald man grinned. "Not even the smallest bit was spared, and thus fell the King of Qliphoth, Samael. Needless to say, there was elation. After all, we finally defeated the enemy leader, pillaged their stronghold and routed their army. Of course, the work wasn't done yet, since there would be pockets of resistance, but it didn't matter much of us, not when we had beaten them."

"We weren't quite sure on how to proceed afterwards. After all, in desperation, more could unleash that monstrous form, and since only Mikoto managed to slay it, it was clear that the tides could still reverse. But thankfully, we broke into his vault and seized some of the more exotic spells that he had unleashed." Gunter sighed. "But unfortunately, we failed to find a cure to that blight. It seemed that they only ever used it when they found an area to be unsalvageable, somehow." He declared. "Or Samael decided to destroy it in anticipation that we'd try to acquire it. Nevertheless, we figured out that we could attempt to engineer something by researching their magic. In the interest of fairness, those particular spoils of wars were shared across the countries, to be analyzed. We would have done a debate on what more we could do it with, but we found ourselves interrupted."

"The capital had been set on fire." Said Fuga. "Over the course of our absence, it had been decided to begin pillaging the city. Why they would do so while we were present, I know not. But by the time we came out, there was little we could have done. And yes, I do understand the wrath that these Nohrians felt. Their home country was forever tarnished because of Qliphoth's invasion after all. But still… The sights that we saw amongst the burning streets. The sheer brutality towards cowering civilians, the manner in which men and women that I fought alongside with and treated as equal turned into ravenous beasts no different from the fearsome monster that we put down... All the royals were left to gaze at this sight, and when they eventually reacted, it was unfortunately a bit too late to stop the tragedy, and we left a scarred capital."

Corrin frowned, being reminded of Cheve but on a much bigger scale. Was that was people could do when sufficiently angry? Could good persons really become deranged beasts out of a thirst for revenge? Of course, Qliphoth was not really innocent in all of this, but he doubted that all the citizens that died that night were evil or guilty of any crimes at all, besides being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Now he wondered though. Would the Nohrians do this to Hoshido, after all that they've been taught, all the brothers and sisters lost to Hoshidan blades, all the pain and effort? He'd like to say no, but he was slowly accepting that he would need a big leash on his soldiers. Or at least, he'd need to stop those degenerate dogs of wars from even entering a city while he was around.

Gunter shifted a little and spoke. "We prepared to finish off some pockets of resistance but a convoy of Sefirotians came at us. They congratulated us for our victory, and explained that they would take over with disposing of Qliphoth. Of course, we knew that they would not do this out of kindness. They had an occasion to easily dispose of their rivals for good, and they were taking it, and I suspect that they would have attacked us if it weren't for the sheer power wielded by Mikoto and the royal family. Regardless, we actually agreed to their offer. We were tired of war and eager to go home to lick our wounds and build a future together."

"What happened to them?" Said Corrin.

"We don't know. I do believe that our performance somewhat scared them, since they were very prudent around us. We offered to trade with them, and they agreed to it." Said Gunter. "They stuck to their promise and helped Nohr at first, though they seemed to lack the magic to dispel what had been done. Recently though, they've stopped sending ships." He folded his arms. "I do not know why. We have our own issues to deal with after all. Nonetheless, when we got back…"

"Should I take over?" Said Fuga. "I shall not be biased, my friend."

"Please do."

"When we went back home, we were mostly greeted by Hoshidans, and Garon was surprised to discover that the prices of the taxes were to be raised." Said Fuga. "The Hoshidans pretended that it was because the war drained their own bank, but it was merely an attempt at further placating Nohr, by forcing them to pay more for the resources that they desperately needed. Of course, such a tactic had been anticipated, but the Nohrians sincerely thought that they would find a cure for the ill that had struck their nation. As a result… He had to agree."

"Why not fight the Hoshidans directly?" Proposed Beruka. "Surely the rest of the continent would not approve of this."

"Even a Nohrian can be tired by war. Garon was a bold young man, but the sights seen in the war tamed him a little. And Sumeragi promised him, before their eventual separation, that he would work hard to undo what had been done. Garon was disbelieving, but in the name of their friendship, he accepted it. Mikoto stood against it, and had the power to perhaps forcefully convince the leaders to back off but…"

"She didn't want to do it that way."

"Correct. Your mother was upset but needed to depart it seemed. She was fascinated by our continent but explained that she had other duties, and perhaps other evil empires to strike down. Sumeragi was particularly sad to see her go, but alas, he simply left her to vanish into the horizon. Of course, plenty of people from different nations went looking for her, but she was unable to be found. However, we soon found ourselves dealing with some bigger issues, such as what to do with Hoshido. While they were honorable enough not to outright invade, because of the recent war and also because they did fight alongside us, they were quite unwilling to budge on the issue of the taxes, and apparently, Sumeragi could not convince his parents nor the elders to stop that. After all, Nohr and Hoshido have been fierce rivals ever since the millennia, and Hoshido finally found a way to ensure that they would gain the upper hand. Of course, the nations allied to Nohr helped it as much as they could, but they couldn't do much to contribute. That, and various nobles were looking to escape the country, so that they may inhabit greener pastures."

"Ah, Forlorn Forest."

"Indeed." Retorted Gunter. "Garon used a guide to trick a bunch of nobles into heading towards the Forlorn Forest to leave Nohr, but they were set upon by him, Katerina and some soldiers. He then seized their riches and concentrated the power in Nohr around himself, while promising freedom and a share of that power to remaining nobles as long as they stayed close to him. It was a pretty ruthless strategy. In fact, I was almost surprised that he would devise it." Confessed Gunter. "Desperate times calling for desperate measures. Still, in spite of the betrayal, he held strong and ruled Nohr to the best of his abilities along with Katerina." A shadow covered the older man's eyes. "Until an attempt at revenge for the massacre at the forest took her life as well as those of his siblings. He was never quite the same after." Commented the Nohrian. "He was never unkind to his family, and could be courteous to women, but his tone with others grew harsher and he started to grow weary of the manipulation and deceit of the court. Watching him, I was fearful of his constant marriages and lack of care for the war between his concubines. He could have stopped it, of course, but he was too self-pitying to do so, and I suspect that he knew that only a large-scale massacre would stop it by this point. When Arete came into the picture, things seemed to grow better… But she fell ill of a mysterious disease, and he ultimately became the bitter shell he is today."

Fuga folded his arms. "Much tragedy has happened to Garon." He ponders. "It is a shame that such a brave man was twisted into becoming such a monster. Sumeragi was always sorrowful whenever he heard of the latest news. As soon as he became king, he lowered the taxes as much as he could but he encountered heavy resistance from the elders. Meanwhile, history was being told differently in schools." He continued. "The conflict with Qliphoth had become a tale of brave Hoshidans gallantly leading the brutish Nohrians into battle and then having to babysit their plagued country. Even the Wind Tribe was finding itself teaching such stories to its children." The older man grimaced. "A blatant showing of disrespect to the men and women whom I fought alongside with during the war, of course. With Qliphoth gone, Hoshido needed an enemy again, and Nohr took the place that it had filled uninterrupted for centuries until the very first Qliphoth soldier laid a foot on the continent."

"In Nohr, we also changed history as well. Though in this case, King Garon himself had encouraged it. This greatly saddened me, but I was too loyal to the crown to depart… And if I were to be honest, I was quite angered at Hoshido too. Of course, I will never forget the help they've provided us with, and I shall strive to honor the Hoshidan soldiers who fought at my side during the war, but I felt quite betrayed as well. However, there was little I could've done to stand against the movement even if I had wanted to. No one in Nohr was very much fond of Hoshido after what they had done, as you can guess, and even the veterans of the conflict had no issues with some changes to what had truly happened."

"When your mother, and, well, you joined us." Fuga turned to Corrin. "Sumeragi decided to try and send a letter to Garon. He had gained enough influence to overturn the elders if he really needed to, and he felt that if Hoshido and Nohr could work together again, then they would become the leaders of a most mighty continent. Why, they could even work together and purge the blight." The older man put his hands on his hips and stared wistfully at the air, perhaps thinking of another time.

"When Garon replied, Sumeragi was overjoyed, and they would continue to talk to one another. I do not know how Garon reacted though… How was he?"

"Gleeful." Said Gunter. "The weariness that he had vanished whenever Sumeragi was concerned, and he seemed to be happy about reuniting with his friend, and especially finding Mikoto back. He truly regretted Ikona's tragic demise, laughed when he heard about the hijins that the mighty king of Hoshido still found himself into… It was like he was a different man. I appreciated it, though. Peace with Hoshido would greatly help our nation and while I was still insulted by the betrayal, I figured that it would be better to, as they say, suck it up and allow our great nation to finally heal and move forward." Then, the older man sighed. "But then, Garon proposed a peace treaty. Well, there was no real conflict, but both Nohr and Hoshido would promise not to fight any longer and would unite the two of them. Sumeragi loved the idea of course, since he immediately agreed to it. Cheve would be the rendez-vous point, since it had been recently fully rebuilt and would serve as neutral grounds. However, I grew suspicious when he specifically asked for you."

Fuga nodded, as Gunter pointed slightly to Corrin. "Sumeragi did question me about this. One could take it as a gesture of goodwill, and a further reassurance that there would be no damage, but I was convinced that there stood something darker. However, Sumeragi was convinced that the future was at hand, and he decided not to offend Garon by refusing his offer. After all, he joked, if you ever fell into troubles, Mikoto would simply run to Cheve and instantly dispatch the offender."

Corrin tried to chuckle a little but the sound he made was closer to a scoffing sound. Sumeragi seemed like a good man, if only a bit naïve (a considerable assessment, since even Corrin had realized that the man could be overly trusting), and he was always a little upset to hear about his mother. He could only picture her patiently awaiting for her husband and son to return, eager to be regaled with tales of a future where both nations stood in harmony, only to receive the news that her husband was dead and her son was now in captivity.

It almost made him want to cry, just as much as it enraged him. Garon… He simply couldn't pity the man. What happened to him was indeed very tragic, but he had done so much harm to his mother, Hoshido and even Nohr, through his inability to take care of the Concubine War! The more he heard about the man, the more Corrin wondered just how he had managed to basically worship his false father through most of his life. In fact he was almost ready to just run him over with his sword by their next meeting.

"Garon, unfortunately, had other plans. You know what happened." Said Gunter. "He left with a trusted soldier of his and archers. For the sake of his defense, he assured, but I knew that the archers would provide a rather poor protection in case of a surprise attack. Regardless, while most of his escort died, he defeated Sumeragi and then took you in. He confessed the true nature of his crime to a small audience, me included, and said that Hoshido would be blamed for the attack. Their "peace treaty" was a fraud, and they intended to merely slay the King so as to further weaken Nohr. Of course, going along with it was unthinkable, but those of us who protested were put down or sent into the slums." He said. "So the plan was approved. I assume that you know the rest of the story from that point."

"I thought that your mother was going to take her revenge, but alas, she didn't. She explained it to me though. Nohr is a fragile country, for all its bravado and strength, it stands on quivering legs. If she were to invade it, then its infrastructure would completely collapse and plenty of innocent citizens would end up killed or in need of a new home. She also said that Yato had been lost, and that even if she wanted to, she probably could not beat Garon. I… sense a lie coming out of her, but I knew just how stubborn she could be and agreed that Garon would bring down the entire country with him in defeat. Of course though, I was curious as to what chains of events could lead to the loss of such a powerful blade, able to bring down a beast capable of withstanding the full might of several legendary weapons. Alas, she didn't answer." Fuga folded his arms. "But she did explain to me how it worked, in the events that you would find it. It seems that Yato is a special blade that can only be wielded by one person, after all, and she said that in the hands of anyone else, it would be no sharper than a farmer's tool." He declared. "In a way, I've been entrusted to help you figure out the sword. Though you've already made advance, so it seems."

"Y-yeah, it actually got broken but…" Corrin eyed his sword. "It eventually, erm, regrew even stronger. I think that it work based on how confident I feel. When I decide to focus fully on a fight, armor may as well not exist for it. I mean, all my abilities get a boost of a sort when I feel confident, but I don't know. I feel like I could carve a mountain clean with only a few swings at a time."

"Hm, yes. Well, Yato's might is tied to your confidence and your bond with a wielder of a legendary weapon, it seems. If you and, say, the wielder of the mighty tome Brynhildr cooperate closely together and already trust one another deeply, then Yato will receive the weapon's power." He declared.

Corrin blinked. "Y-yeah, Leo helped me at Cheve a bit before the sword repaired itself but…" He glanced at Beruka. "It only really regrew after I got more confident thanks to someone's support." While he dared not directly name Beruka, in fear that she'd find it humiliating, he was pleased to see her make a slight smile. "So, do I need to get even closer to Xander? I mean, he's my elder brother, isn't it? It should be easy to just do that."

"It needs to be a token of trust. A sign that you would trust each another no matter what would happen. Even if the whole world decided to unite against you two, you would feel still confident in your odds by mere virtue of being allied with him." Answered Fuga. "You just need to show that you fully trust the prince with your life, and so forth. Then, the sword will reach its second form." Said Fuga. "Though Mikoto has never seen what happen if you receive power only from the Nohrian relics and not the Hoshidan ones."

"What do you mean? Oh, the reason why Yato took that golden form was because the power of all four weapons were focused into it, is that right?" He pulled Yato out of its sheath and contemplated the gems on its blade. Up until now, he had always wondered just what they were. The blade's original form had none of those four gems glowing, while the current one had one of those. Of course, he had figured out that the more gems the better, but until then, he had never figured out how to make it work. However, the actual explanation caused Corrin to gaze with sorrow instead of triumph.

"So… I'll never get to see that golden blade in my lifetime, right?"

"… Yes." Replied Fuga, opting to be blunt. "A deep bond needs to be created first, and then trust must be established. I actually do believe that you still have a bond with your Hoshidan siblings, because of your fate. But…"

"I do understand." He looked at the sword, now thinking that he couldn't help but see it as a representation of the path that he chose. In another world, where he chose to stay with Hoshido, would he gaze at his blade in a similar manner? Would he perhaps regret choosing the dawn country over his Nohrian family and friends?

"… So, how does mom know it though? And did people ever realize that it'd be odd for a stranger from another continent to have a blade that need the power of the legendary weapons of Dreiz to work?" He asked, sensibly.

"At the time, she said that the blade had been forged by a dragon, just before her arrival to Dreiz. I do not think she was fully lying on that one. It was crafted by the Rainbow Sage according to her, and perhaps it was built in case Nohr and Hoshido ever found themselves up against an enemy too tough for them to defeat alone. The wielder of the blade would appear and uses its power to overcome the enemy. Or it would help tip the scales for the moment where they would eventually fight once and for all." The bald man watched as Corrin sheathed the blade. "So she was told by him."

"Hm… Alright, so essentially, to unlock the second gem, I need to show my trust in Xander and vice-versa. I see! Well, I do want to ask. What could happen if my confidence falters? I think that Yato got all broken up because I was losing my confidence at the time. And while I'm stronger now, well… What if I lose my way again?"

"I'll help you find it." Said Beruka, barely keeping her tone neutral, though she managed to put up a better façade. "Since you apparently need my help for everything." Said the assassin, confused when Corrin laughed a little at her joke.

"Unless you abandon the mission entirely, no. The blade is a representation of your will. If you continue on your path, no matter how hesitant, it will still work. If you run against it, or even deviate though, it may end up broken. To help with that, it is necessary to make you trust the path again, of course, so you'll have to listen to miss Beruka." He chuckled. "That is all I know."

"I thoroughly appreciate your explanations, thank you for taking the time to help me!" Said Corrin, bowing down. "But before I go… After I reached its power-up form, I gained a better amount of control over my draconic ability, is it tied to the blade? I feel a bit more in control whenever I wield it."

"Your draconic ability? Ah, yes, your ability to transform into a dragon, right? I've heard rumors of a beast with the might to topple entire legions being on the side of Nohr."

"W-well, beast is being a bit rude… But I can actually transform parts of my body too, and I've started doing that after unlocking that second form." To demonstrate, he transformed a part of his arm into a claw but then quickly shafted back into its regular form. "It's like I can do it more easily when Yato's close. Beforehand, I could only do it when I felt really enraged, like when that bastard, Hans, attacked Gunter."

"Hm… I do remember that your mother had mentioned that the blade would help you hone your skills but I failed to interpret it as such. I do hope that you can forgive this particular failure, Lord Corrin. The ability to shapeshift into a dragon is unique, and only the oldest books mention creatures capable of transforming into dragons." Said Fuga. "Those that speak of the land where the dusk dragon, the dawn dragon and others hail from."

"I see… Well, I guess I could always read those! Thank you for your time, and thank you for the fight! It was a genuine pleasure to fight someone as strong as you! When I'll be done with that war and its after-effects, maybe we could even fight again?"

"Oh, I'm not too eager to get bested in front of my son yet again." Chuckled Fuga. "But I did appreciate the fight. I would very much appreciate the chance to fight you again! Though I suspect that my waning strength would make an easy opponent to overcome. After all, I'm quite old myself."

Corrin shuddered. "Well, I guess I'm lucky I never crossed blades with you when you were at your best!" He said. "Well, we'll be leaving. May the eventual alliance between our nations last through the ages!"

While they prepared to head out, they noticed that the boy, Hayato, had decided to sleep through the explanations. Corrin saw no problem with it, since he had no stakes in the matter, but Fuga frowned a little. Grabbing the sheath of his discarded katana, he moved to whack his son on the head, even if he didn't put much force in the blow. "Sleeping too much will make you weaker, my son. You may do push-ups for the next 2 minutes to try to make up for that lost strength!"

"D-damnit! Hey, I would be training if you didn't monopolize the room for your little story session!" Said the young boy, pouting. He got up and turned to face the group. "Farewells!"

"Farewell, Hayato!" Declared Corrin, politely waving away at him. Gunter simply glanced at him with a stare that could freeze someone's blood cold. Beruka ignored him entirely. The prince had to admit that he was a little envious of Hayato's position. The young man was safe from the war after all, and it was unlikely that harm would come to him with a father as strong as Fuga.

But other, more pressing matters were well-present within the young man's mind, and he pondered on those. Was his mother bestowed with draconic blood as well, or was she actually a royal from another country, blessed with the power of the dragons too?

Would that make him the prince of that country, or at least a legitimate heir to its throne? What did it look like? Was his father also from this land and had to be left behind for some reason? If he were to look for it, would troubles await him? He didn't quite believe Ryoma's story anymore, but he doubted that his older brother lied to him about Mikoto's initial arrival. Was was she exactly fleeing from, without her husband?

Hm… It was better to set that aside for now, he thought. He had his own war to deal with and the repairs would provide more than enough headaches for him to bother with, so leaving to go seek for his seeming homeland was out of the question as well. It seemed like there would be no revelations for him yet… Though perhaps later, when he'll be old enough to get himself a full beard, he'll look into it. But for now, it was a matter of dealing with Hoshido and Nohr.

The small trio was escorted out of the palace and Corrin prepared for his final farewell. Beforehand, though, Fuga turned to Gunter. "When you're done with this conflict, don't hesitate to come to my nation." He said. "An old man like you would very much enjoy the purifying air here."

"Oh, I regret that Nohr will always be my country." Said Gunter. "And I am… mild towards the wind tribe's aesthetic. Nevertheless, may we cross paths again, old friend, and may your star continue to shine as bright as it does." The knight sighed, but gathered a smile. "I will try to come back though, and tell you about that glorious war that you just missed."

"Try not to break your back upon charging first." Said Fuga. "Live well my friend. I would hate to learn that some Hoshidan fool managed to get the better of such a warrior." Then, he glanced at the two Nohrians in particular. It made sense, since he didn't really know Beruka and had figured out that an attempt at a dialogue would be short. "May you both live through this war as well. It pains me to be unable to assist you through it, but I do have my duties… And I cannot send my soldiers to die for a war that does not concern them, nor can I find the resolve to attack the country of Sumeragi, Mikoto and Ikona."

"That is fine, Fuga. You've already helped us enough!" Said Corrin. "I shall heed your words, friend. May we meet again!"

"And may your path be a glorious one." Says Fuga. "You may face tragedies and hesitation, but remember to always strive to make the best out of your situation and remember that you are a worthy hero of Nohr." He raised his hand. "Farewell!" And with that, Fuga was off. Corrin actually was pretty sad about such a fearsome warrior not being on his side, but at least Fuga had shown that he also didn't want to be on the other side and he could understand the reasons, both political and personal, behind the bald man's refusal to fight Hoshido. And, he thought, with the power that would soon be his, Corrin could easily make up for that absence.

"You will be escorted back to your army." Said the guide, appearing behind them. "The Wind Tribe is deceptively difficult to explore in spite of its size, and even if it should take a few hours, the heavy winds here and there could block your path or slow you down. You will need to walk down the stairs and get to the bottom of the mountain first though. A caravan will be waiting for you."

"Heh, walk down the stairs?" Corrin contemplated the view, and felt a dumb idea pass through his head. "Could I actually, erm, just fly down? I bet that the view is nice and my wings should be strong enough to fight off the current."

"Fly?" Said the guide. The prince, who had almost longed for an occasion to show off his wings, deployed them, carefully avoiding anyone nearby as they spread out. The Wind Tribe's usual stoicism (or excitation) in the face of danger or surprise proved itself outmatched by the sight of a winged humanoid, and the guide's eyes (as well as on-lookers) widened slightly before he managed to reassert a straight face, though his facial expression was a bit less composed than it was before. "I see… Well, if you do believe yourself strong enough to match the current, erm, please feel free to jump off the high mountain, sir."

"May I accompany you?" Said Beruka, all of a sudden, taking two steps forwards near Corrin. "There are issues I would like to talk about with you, and it would be easier to do so without people potentially listening on us."

"It is nice to see that I am trusted." Assured Gunter, in the background.

"Well, sorry Gunter, but it'd be a bit awkward if I had to carry you both." Said Corrin. "Erm, I hope you won't mind being alone for a little bit. W-well, not alone, since you'll have the guide to escort you down the stairs!"

"Ah, but since I'm alone with Mister Gunter, it'll be all the more easy for me to ambush and kill him." Said the guide, perhaps opting to bring some humor in a manner that very much fit his tribe. Beruka didn't react and kept her eye on Corrin, who himself turned towards the guide with a look of pure shock on his face. Gunter, meanwhile, glanced at the guide.

"Try me." He said, with a voice that could cause a charging Faceless to drop dread. Wisely realizing that his humor had not been appreciated, the guide simply moved towards an edge of the city. Rather wisely, several wooden panels had been put to avoid having someone accidentally fall to their death. Sure, most people would be careful not to fall, but if a member of the tribe had a beef with someone else, or was drunk, or was somehow distracted, then it was still good to have some measures against the void. The structures even had watchtowers, to quickly intervene in case someone decided to be foolish and attempted to climb. Luckily enough, they always arrived on time. No one had the strength and agility to easily jump to the top of those boards, after all. Well, no one without either very intense training or draconic genes within them, as both Beruka and Corrin were quick to prove by making the leap. Their guide, who was ready to fetch some ladders, stared in utter bafflement.

"W-well… Don't fall, alright?" He advised, less and less composed as things went along. Beruka just stared at the void beneath her as he spoke, and noticed that she could barely see the caravan supposed to escort them. Or she thought, it was complicated to know if that black dot at the end of her vision was a caravan, a rock or something else entirely. Corrin nearly moved to hold her before realizing that it'd be inappropriate to do so before asking. Luckily, she simply wrapped her arm around his waist and he decided to do the same, making sure that she was held steady, before jumping off… Though he was surprised by her bold decision to jump off a second before him, apparently wholly fearless. He found that very amusing, for some reason.

The two young people fell, and Gunter stared at the guide.

"… Are they all like this in Nohr's army?"

"Yes."

…

Beruka was taking in the sights, while still firmly holding unto Corrin with all her strength, though she had to admit that he was probably the reason why she was still attached to him and not helplessly being swung along in the air. Not that it worried her at all, as Corrin discovered when he glanced at Beruka and saw that she kept her usual poker face in spite of the heavy wind. Not that surprised though, the young man quickly unfolded his wings and glided along the mountain for a bit before further rising up in the sky (causing a bunch of wind tribe watchmen to very nearly jump off the mountain in surprise as well) and going down it again, this time keeping both arms on her to truly make sure that she wouldn't fly off.

She'd very much mind having someone else's hands on her, but she wasn't prideful enough to get stupid. And he was keeping them where they belonged, so instead of speaking, she just turned to stare at the world now below her. The vast blue sky, for one, but also the endless plain, stretching into the horizon far past her eye's ability to see, and the numerous mountains in the distance… She was already a bit surprised to see the Hoshidan hills, but never before had she even entertained the idea of outright flying above the land of another country than Nohr. And, as barren as the Wind Country looked like, it was still fitting to her vision.

Nohr was a dreary place, and she had spent a good deal of her life in a slum. The sky and its secrets had always been unknown to her, and when she took a few curious peeks while standing at the last floor of a tall building, she saw naught but darkness and despair, and had moved past even seeing such sights by the time she became a wyvern rider, or was preoccupied when she could see them.

Now though? Now she had no imminent worries, and all the time in the world (or so it felt) to contemplate the world stretching on the horizon. And it was as colorful as the world beyond the slums that the storytellers of the street spoke of. Instead of perpetual muddy greyness and clouds, the land of the wind was a golden land, with an ocean blue sky floating above. And while she had been in the greener pastures of Dreiz for some months now, she felt overwhelmed all of a sudden, almost as if she was rediscovering those colors for the first time.

She pondered on just how exactly she reached such a point in her life. Where she, an assassin who trusted no one and had long since discarded her dreams of freedom, could even be there, flying and admiring another land all while fully trusting someone with her life. This prompt caused her to look at Corrin, who seemed to be concentrated with his flight but occasionally looked at her to see how she was doing. He didn't speak, because of the high current, but his smile was enough.

She felt a sensation, like a ball forming in her chest and going all the way to her heart, but instead of being invasive or something to be wary over, Beruka welcomed it, and appreciated it too. In her entire life, she had never felt "happiness" (which she guessed she was sensing right now). One per one, target per target, she never truly felt complete or satisfied. Well, she did feel pride or joy when she outwitted a target or managed to defeat a tough enemy, but never genuine happiness. It was… perhaps hard to describe for her.

But either way, it felt nice. And she finally realized that perhaps continuing as a King's shadow would not help her feel that kind of things again. She would simply close herself off again, and say goodbye to those bonds that she had gained. And, while she would never let it be said out-loud, doing so would be too bad for her. She simply couldn't part away from these feelings or just discard them, not again.

Her decision had been made. What she would do after the end of the war, she didn't know. But it would not involve being in the shadow of her king… Though it may perhaps involve standing next to someone else in the royal family.

Corrin finally reached the ground and looked around for any observers before settling her down, though she waited until she had his full attention before speaking up. "Thank you." She said, and he was surprised to see a genuine smile on her face, though he just smiled back in answer and scratched the back of his head, blushing.

"I'm… I'm just glad that you enjoyed it." He said. "O-oh, you meant to talk to me though! I completely forgot that! Sorry!" Corrin smacked his forehead. "I'm sorry, I just get so entranced when I fly, it's…"

"Okay." Said Beruka. "I would like to speak to you, but it can wait." She said. "We have much to do, and we should be fully focused on our… current work." The assassin folded her arms behind her back. "It is better that we keep ourselves focused on the mission."

"Erm?" He raised an eyebrow but shrugged. "Well, sure. I'm going to be wondering what you mean for a while though!" He looked away, perhaps wondering further, and Beruka just smiled at him. Corrin noticed this and blushed ever so slightly, though he began to look for a different topic, curiously putting his finger up his chin and looking at the mountain he just flew down from.

"Well, we've got a long way to go… I'm just hoping Gunter won' talk too long!"

"Hmph." Beruka's smile faded. "Old man."

…

**N/A**: Haha, long exposition chapter! I'm sorry for that, but the next chapters will have a lot of actions! We're definitely getting into the latter half of the fic!

Here's the backstory about what really happened. I know, it would've been more epic/intelligent to put flashbacks instead of telling but not showing, but it would've made for a pretty disconnected story in my opinion, and I didn't want to drag the fic out any longer

Also, the continent that the dusk and dawn dragon hails from is already known, I might say! And we've already seen Qliphoth's continent as well. Not telling who they belong to or in what era!

Do leave reviews, I love hearing what you guys think about the latest chapters and twists!

See ya later!


	34. The massacre at the Infinite Stairway

Corrin and the others reunited with the army soon enough, and the trek across the wind tribe continued. There were no dangers, and Hoshido was not bold enough to dare follow them into neutral territory. However, the heavy winds around the country were difficult for messenger birds to easily go through, and only the sturdiest riders could easily cross the wind wall, and since Hoshido was still potentially dangerous for a lone rider to fly above, since a lone archer could attempt to shoot them down, the troop received a bit less information than usual. At a rather crucial point of the war too, since Nohr was apparently spreading fast amongst the countryside.

Apparently, various Hoshidan towns and even smaller forts were being conquered all of a sudden, allowing the Nohrian troops to easily advance across the green plains without needing to be distracted. Who exactly was behind those captures, they didn't really know, though Iago told them that they were on their side and that the soldiers had some more pressing matters to attend to. With the forts now in Nohr's hands, and the towns already taken care of as well, the order had been given to head towards Fort Jinya, but also Fort Sakiya, Fort Chiyo and others strongholds. All those places would require to be taken to perform an optimum invasion, though Jinya was, by far, the most important. As a result, many theorized that Garon was heading there in person.

However, it hadn't been confirmed yet. Garon, perhaps deducing that ninjas would catch the letters, kept his exact route a secret. It wasn't hard to assess that the King of Nohr would rejoin with his sons and daughters, but perhaps praises still needed to be given to the Nohrian high command for at least not leaking secrets? Regardless, the war was now going Nohr's way. Breaking past the forts would grant them a way towards the wall of Suzanoh and the capital of Hoshido itself.

As a result, Hoshido was calling back its available military and gathering its strength to defend for now. The shock between the two nations would, without a doubt, be heavy in losses. None of the Hoshidan defenders were about to win (indeed, the people at Fort Jinya perhaps expected the Royals to head for them), but every enemy that fell by their blades would make for one less Nohrian attacking the Wall or the capital, which could help them repel the assault, perhaps, and gather the strength to strike back. Not like their odds of victory were increasing anyway. Garon was a mighty warrior, and most Nohrians treated his arrival as the last nail in Hoshido's coffin.

Regardless, the Royals were going to be partaking in an intense fight as soon as they would be out of the Wind Country. Thus, the ambiance was fairly serious. The soldiers gathered were sober and properly disciplined, all ready to stand firm, cross the Infinite Stairway and access Hoshido to storm its gates. All were thinking about the fight that was coming ahead of them, and making their final goodbyes, or simply relishing the opportunity to partake in yet another battle that would shake the continent and mark history.

Corrin, though, was thinking of other things. While he was taking the battle seriously, his sense of confidence made him think that it would be easier than it was hyped up to be. After all, was he not here, along with the entire royal family? The people of Hoshido were mighty, but there would be no royal on the enemy side while all of Nohr's royal family was present for the fight. He wasn't dismissing the fight, but he was sure that he'd be able to handle it pretty much.

What concerned him were the news that had been delivered to him. Learning that his mother had wielded Yato once wasn't as shocking as it would've been to him a few months ago, since he knew from Azura that she was a skilled songstress capable of raising a mighty country-wide shield, but the truth of what happened against Samael, the dreaded lord of Qliphoth, had shaken him. In Nohr's retelling of the event, he was mighty, but was ultimately defeated in an intense fight, after summoning his entire army to battle Garon, in a fight so wide, so catastrophic even, that it burned all of the land he ruled over and resulted in his death. He was also beheaded, and no mention of transformations were mentioned. In hindsight, it made sense that they would keep Mikoto out of the retelling, considering her role.

But regardless… He couldn't help but think of Garon's odd blob form that he had taken at the casino. That utterly revolting form of his had truly shaken the young man back then, and while he hid it well, Fuga and Gunter's retelling of Samael's gruesome transformation brought back those particular memories pretty hard. And now he wondered if there truly was a common point between those two forms. Samael had taken it, but could he perhaps change his form? Could Garon be some kind of blob monster taking human form? The idea sounded ridiculous, and Corrin struggled to contain a scoff before he realized that it'd make sense. Azura's song caused whatever power he used to keep his form to weaken, and he almost transformed in full view of the entire theater… But did Azura especially know that she was weakened? Did Mikoto tell her about this specifically?

He hadn't taken the time to question her yet, since she was often along with Elise and the young blonde rarely understood that her older siblings would need to talk together once or time (in fairness, since Xander, Camilla and Leo were off strategizing as well, she had no one in her bloodlines to really turn to) and he figured that it didn't change much. They had agreed that Garon had become evil and twisted after all, and perhaps she didn't know that he was actually under that form.

"You seem pensive, brother." Corrin pulled himself out of his reverie and turned around to stare at Leo, the young man having decided to join him. "I hope that nothing else has happened during the course of your encounter with the wind tribe leader, we were already quite shocked to see some fresh scars."

"It's nothing, don't worry." Corrin reflexively caressed his own cheek, feeling the scar. It had healed on its own, yes, but not fast enough not to worry the others. Xander had been quite angered by the reveal that Fuga intended to fight Corrin, but had higher priorities to take care of and as such, could not tell the bald man what he truly had in mind over what he did to Corrin. His anger had calmed though, with the reveal that Corrin wasn't truly wounded nor troubled by what had transpired and the fact that Fuga had revealed how to unlock Yato's second form was seen as an acceptable trade-off, though the siblings were still ashamed of their carelessness with sending their beloved brother off to fight the powerful leader of the tribe.

"You and Xander should be closer." Said Leo. "You apparently need to prove your trust to one another to truly transform Yato. And I would rather have this power available to us early on rather than have you awaken it in the middle of the last fight. Well, I guess that it would still be good for us in a way." He tapped his head.

"I understand, Leo." Said Corrin. "But I think that our trust will come in the midst of a battle or after some important event, like… Our trust is already really high because we grew up together and I chose Nohr instead of Hoshido, right? It only transformed after you went out of your way to help me and risked Garon's wrath." The young man tapped on the pommel of his sword. "I think that it'll come down to something similar, where we show that we're ready to defy authority together and do what's right. I don't think that it's just a matter of talking to one another until we deepen our relationship enough." Said Corrin. "Gaining power from hanging out with someone else does sounds nice though."

"Well then. You know what the sword does, so I'll leave it up to you." He said. "Regardless, we are to be heading into the Infinite Stairway soon. There will certainly be Hoshidan soldiers waiting for us in there, so we will need to be ready to face heavy resistance. Let's meet up with the others."

"Huh? Wouldn't taking the Stairway cause us a safer passage to Hoshido though?" Said Corrin, as Jagen walked alongside Leo's horse, Freiga. "I knew that they would defend it but…"

"Hoshido and the Wind Tribe share that stairway in a sense. The bottom half belong to Fuga, the upper half is under Yukimura's supervision. It is fairly lightly guarded usually, but with the war, and its proximity to Fort Jinya, there will certainly be more soldiers than usual." Leo glanced at Corrin. "You do know that they share it, right?"

"Erm." Corrin blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Oops, looks like I wasn't paying attention when it was taught to me, erm… W-what is it about?"

Leo sighed. "Long ago, the rebel leader Shinya rose up against King Suzanoh. Aware of his inferior power in comparison to the King, he used unusual tactics to fend off the army, like hiding in the wood and striking out against the weaker parts of the squads sent his way, deliberately attacking civilians to spark mistrust and loss of morale and other tactics. Eventually though, Suzanoh managed to trap him by luring him into making an attack on a village." The prince held up his finger. "A village that had his population switched out with ninjas overnight. Shinya fled while his group was torn to shred and reunited with some of his soldiers to flee in the Wind Tribe, where, they thought, they would be safe from being followed. However, Suzanoh had deduced that he would make such a move, and made an off-the-book deal with the current leader of the Wind Tribe. In exchange for increased trading, he would hunt Shinya and bring him back to justice."

"Huh, was Shinya really such a threat? He sounded like an evil man, certainly, but…"

"Suzanoh, as a king, based his politic on intimidation. He truly wanted to make Hoshido a mighty country." Said Leo. "He couldn't allow some rebel leader to make him look weak, so that's why he went to such great lengths to defeat him. And that's why he personally chased after him. Sandwiched between two armies, Shinya and his men surrendered and Suzanoh agreed to let him walk free… But first, he ordered them to build a stairway between Hoshido and the Wind Country. There were ways to access the country already, but the stairway would be freed from the wind's howling. Outnumbered, and kept just barely healthy enough to carve through the stone, Shinya and his gang were made to work on the Infinite Stairway, taking years off their life to accomplish the feat of making a durable way between the two countries. Of course, he tried to cheat at times, but they would simply continue their work and magic would be used to repair whatever weak point they'd attempt to create. Once they had done it, the leader of the tribe then forced Shinya and the survivors to walk on their edifice, to, going by their own words, admire it." Leo frowned. "Shinya was already exhausted but he managed to barely get atop. Just in time to crumble at Suzanoh's feet, and die from exhaustion.

"That's sinister." Corrin frowned. "He was a nasty piece of work but it would've been easier to just execute him instead of dragging it out for years! And what kind of king would attempt to build such a fearful country?"

"Hoshido has had some civil issues before Suzanoh emerged, while Nohr was thriving." Said Leo. "Hoshido had given away some grounds and was seen as weak and less decisive than Nohr, to the point where many criminals from that country decided to escape to the other, believing that they would be safe from Nohrian justice, or any justice at all, if they managed to hide underneath its sun. The two previous monarchs failed to get rid of them, and eventually, Shinya rose out of all that built-up confidence, with dreams of potentially taking over and acquiring the tools of legend for himself. As such, Suzanoh had to do his best to enforce that his country was still the second most powerful in the continent, and he did so by beheading all the Nohrian criminals before rolling their heads at the feet of the Nohrian Queen, over the course of a otherwise quite unmemorable diplomatic dinner." He explained. "And he later built the wall that we will soon be breaking through, along with a lot of the sturdier forts around here. A lot of the military might that is facing us was created by him in some part."

"That's impressive." Admitted Corrin. "Terrible, but impressive… Hey, do you think that we will have an impact like his later on? I mean, we're set to change Nohr in a major way if we succeed." Said Corrin. "Do you think that in the span of a century, Nohr will have changed again? Or will it remain the same?"

"I do not know. If I were honest, I do not think that we can do something like entirely changing it." Said Leo. "But we can certainly make life better for everyone and ensure that future generations will have an easier time changing everything."

Corrin frowned slightly. Would they be working to undo this even in their grey years? He had knew all along that it'd take time, but not that much… Or, well, he had been deluding himself for a bit. Either way, he found himself more and more hesitant to actually go forward and fix his mess now. Instead, he yearned to just be able to go back and find himself a home somewhere in the countryside to settle down unto. But if he did that, would he be any better than the people who ruined the country to start with? Just running away and shunning his responsibilities after he took so many lives? True, it wasn't really his fault if the war had started, but blood was still on his hands and he was a prince of Nohr, the invading country. Not doing anything to help the repair would be selfish, because he was still one of the leaders of Nohr, technically, and practically the one leading the blood invasion. His hands weren't exactly clean and even someone with his naivety knew that "I was just following orders" was hardly a good excuse to make.

Yet, he couldn't help but be sick of the war and yearn to break free from it. He saw his premise of fixing everything as a burden that he added to himself, as if having to conquer Hoshido in itself wasn't painful enough. And as if having to basically pay for the mess caused by everyone else wasn't already enough work… Why did Xander and the others need to carry the burden of Garon's decision? Why did the mad king decide to kill his friend and basically worsen the situation when he had a good shot at ending all that misery before it could happen?

Perhaps Fuga and Gunter had been lying, but the latter had promised fairness and depicted Hoshido as in the wrong to put these taxes on Nohr, so he wasn't siding too much with the country either. His portrayal of Hoshido's fallen king was admittedly a little too positive, with his worst crime being naivety, but Gunter never objected to any of his points and was too loyal to Nohr to speak ill of his own nation… So that was the truth. Or the closest thing to the truth that he could obtain, coming off someone who had less stakes in the matter than anyone else.

But it just wanted him to turn around and defeat Garon instead of conquering Hoshido, and the more time he spent contemplating the issue, the more he realized that all these deaths and destruction on the scale of Dreiz could've been avoided if it weren't for Garon's betrayal. Just why would he do so? He seemed cheery according to Gunter's account. Did Sumeragi bring some men of his own and Garon, made paranoid by the concubine wars and the noble attacks, mistook this for an attack? It'd make sense for Sumeragi to bring his personal guard, even for a diplomatic matter (and especially since apparently he took Corrin and Ryoma himself), but even a paranoid Garon would know better than to attack on sight based on that, since he'd be aware that no king, even one as trusting and powerful as Sumeragi, would go anywhere, especially a neutral country well away from home. But then, what other excuse did he have? And why, especially, would he even want to continue the combat when he presumably loved Nohr or, at least, his children? Why would he attack and ruin his chance at healing it?

Was Garon… Was he Samael in disguise, having somehow survived Mikoto's attack? Or a crony of his, with similar powers, who switched places with the old king of Nohr and plot to do what his king failed to do by at least destroying Hoshido? But how could he so easily assassinate him and take his place, considering Garon's strength and status? And he would have needed to be able to imitate him perfectly too, enough not to get his children suspicious. If Ryoma was to be trusted, Garon was already a weird monster about more than a decade ago, when he survived having Raijinto pierce his throat, but he could still at least procreate a child so it likely happened after Elise's conception at the very least…

Fuga mentioned that the spells of Qliphoth were shared across the countries. Did Nohr get the spell that allows one to become some sort of grotesque empty vessel? Surely this could've taken outside help, so did Iago know? Or at least some mage? He never really learned how the spell worked, beside that it was probably hard. Garon was actually knowledgeable of magic, to a level where he could perform potent spells even without the use of a tome to channel it, an act that few magicians in Nohr could even accomplish, so learning the spell alone and managing to copy it was not out of the cards. He had probably mastered it even more than Samael if he could take some form of copied form, even… But still, Corrin was convinced that some form of help was needed, or some ambitious magic user of Qliphoth would've done it long ago. Perhaps he'd ask Nyx? While she was never mentioned by Gunter or Fuga, she was definitely old enough to have participated and she knew more about magic than anyone else on the continent, so she could give him some pointers.

Regardless, Corrin had to interrupt his train of thoughts for now. The Infinite Stairway, as it was called, was currently coming up! However, it was hard to see from their spot, since it was inside a black mountain that lead to Hoshido. In the distance, he could even see a cliff of a sort, with trees and others on top of it. No wonder the Stairway had to be created: Going to the Wind Tribe from Hoshido and vice-versa would involve climbing this huge cliff alone! Of course, it could've been done in a manner that would not involve the unnecessary demise of several men, bandits or not, but still. He could, at least, admit that Suzanoh had a pretty intense vision of things.

"Alright." Tello held his hand out. "The Hoshidans are going to be protecting that, so I want the mages to form a really solid magical screen in preparation for any boulders that may come across our path. It's a very narrow path, so the archers and free mages will pour their firepower forwards and open up a path for the rest of us to charge across. They have the advantage of preparing the terrain, but we have our discipline and firepower. Don't ever walk back after taking a single step and don't let up once we've got them beaten! Every inch of territory that we gain is a victory in itself!"

"Also." Leo coughed. "Do not let your guard down after our victory. There will certainly be more guards close to the entrance. Those of you who break through should not run off." He said. "So as to avoid being cut off from the others in the middle of enemy territory, but do not, under any circumstance, let your guard down."

"I don't get it though." Said Elise. "Why can't Hoshido just go kablooey on the bridge?" She looked up to Camilla and Azura, her neighbors of a sort. "Like, they could just get us on the bridge and make it go boom! It wouldn't be much of a loss to them." She admitted. "I mean, I know I must be getting all Leony with me being scared like that.."

"How Leony? Just how CUTE can you get, my dear little Elise!" Camilla actually pinched her cheeks, though lightly. "Yes, those evil Hoshidans will likely attempt to spell our doom, but the wind tribe would not allow them to just destroy that stairwy like that apparently." She said. "And we have all those skilled mages who can tell when explosives are afoot! And you either need really big ones or a lot of them to blow up the bridge, so don't worry, things are going pretty excellently! We're just going to need to be careful to check before we make any decision! After all, who knows, the Hoshidans sure are good at hiding their own little secrets!"

"Haha, you've hung out with Leo a bit too much indeed!" Said Xander. "But it is fine. We will check ahead for traps and our wizards are competent. Furthermore, we will be able to progress relatively safely early on. Half of the stairwy belong to the wind tribe so Hoshido will not mount any attack. We will need to be careful, though. Those rats might decide to throw their so-called "honor" away now that we are nearby. I recommend you to be careful, but do not be panicked, as we ascend the first half. The second one, however, will be a different sto…"

"Lord Xander!" A scout ran directly to them."Wind tribes natives are approaching us! They appear to be non hostile!" The Nohrian scout was offered water by another and downed his canteen in one gulp, handing the empty content back to the generous soldier who gave it away. The good Samaritan now found himself a bit embarrassed, mournfully staring at the empty container, but the scout cared little for his water-related plight. "Should we assume that this is a trap? They appear to be running away from something!"

"What sight could send the likes of these soldiers running? Alright, allow them in." Xanderheld his hands out. "It is highly suspicious that these men would end up running away from danger though. I recommend you all to be vigilant. Hoshido may be more desperate than we first thought."

Corrin grabbed the hilt of his sword, but fortunately, the wind tribe guards who ran up to them had broken weapons on them, making it impossible for them to be a threat even if they wanted to. More eerily though, they all looked as if they saw death itself, sometimes glancing at their back (or, more accurately, the entrance to the stairs) in fear. Had Hoshido done something to try to prevent Nohr from entering? Would they be even that desperate?

"Milord! The… The abominations! Faceless!" Barely managed to stammer out the "leader" of the guards. "Why would you send them here, milord? Surely we aren't obstacles for you!"

"What Faceless?" Said Xander, getting down from his horse to help the man recover. "This is neutral territory, we wouldn't send Faceless, and I doubt that those vulgar beasts would've been able to progress into your territory without being spotted. They're barely intelligent around to even go from one point to another."

"No no." The guard shook his head. "The monsters! The beasts! G-grotesque shapes, walking into the cave. W-we attack them, but they just broke our weapons." He made the motion of breaking a spear. "But the Hoshidans above… the Hoshidan above, they… they tore them apart! Limb from limb! And they laughed! I could hear them laughing…" The panicked individual nervously scratched the top of his head. "D-degenerate monsters! Why would you send them in, prince of Nohr? Why would you allow our land's soil to be fouled by those corpses animated by dark magic?" Noticing that the man was getting a little over-dramatic by the end, and now aware that he had a diplomatic accident in his hands, Xander moved to put his hand on the man's shoulder, in a gesture that was meant to be both reassuring yet firm.

"I know not what these beasts are doing here, but know that I would never unleash one of these monsters upon your land." Said Xander. "The royal family will fix its own mistake, and will ensure that these beings will no longer dwell within your lands." The prince then searched for an explanation. "They have been sent to Hoshido, and may have crossed the border at some random point. Either way, their careless owners will receive a thorough punishment and I will promptly warn our wizards to keep these abominations in Hoshido… Though I would rather not have these atrocities be deployed on the battlefield."

"W-w-wwell, yes, you better." The guard found back some of his Wind Tribe insolence. "We-we will head out to get some new weapons, and we better not have to waste them on these creatures upon returning."

"Watch who you're speaking to." Said Leo. "Xander is the crown prince soon to be king, and you're a guard who fled from his post. Though we are sympathetic to your plight, and will work on solving it, do not imagine that you are allowed to speak to him in such a casual tone." The guard grunted but understood enough. His posse didn't speak out, but they did shoot some nasty looks at the Nohrians as they left. Xander sighed upon seeing this, but only shook his head.

"This will not help Nohr's reputation. Fuga will be furious to hear that those atrocious things have been sent ahead." He said. "I will have Iago's head for this, for either sending those beasts ahead of us or for not keeping a tighter leash on them."

"Dear brother, I think that we ought to look at a detail." Said Camilla. "This crass man said that the Faceless broke his group's weapons but spared them before moving to kill the Hoshidans guards up ahead, right? Isn't that odd? Even if they do prioritize Hoshidans, the Faceless will kill the closest living beings regardless, and there was… quite some distance between them and the closest Hoshidans available. How can he and his goons still be alive when they seemingly attracted their attention?"

"That's a good point." Said Leo. "We'll have to see for ourselves. Come."

The ambiance fell a little as the army began to head for the Infinite Stairway. If the Hoshidans had been slaughtered, then they would only need to kill the Faceless. However, fighting them was easier than fighting more trained soldiers from the perspective of Corrin and the other royals. Strong as they were, the Faceless could be engaged from a distance and killed before their prodigious speed could close the distance if given enough distance, and the leading royals had the strength and reflexes to match it. Instead of having to fight through those projectiles, they'd just use some of their own to murder the oncoming horde. Hell, Corrin could always transform into a dragon and plow right through them if he wished to.

But the prospective of fighting those awful monsters wasn't reassuring to all, and their odd intelligence worried Xander and the others.

"I'm not hearing any sound." Said Corrin, once they got close to the Stairway's entrance. It was suitably massive, big enough to fit an entire army. "I think that they're done with the Hoshidans. I can't hear the Faceless though, they're not making any noise."

"How?" Said Elise. "They're always pretty noisy."

"What's even happening?" An irritated Leo questioned. "The Faceless were never that smart or quiet before. Has Iago done something to them?"

"We're going to find out. Get in position."

Usually, there was a outpost in front of the stairway to keep things simple, but it had, naturally, been emptied after its occupants ran away. As a result, there was only really Xander and the others. Corrin got off his horse and took a few steps forth to look up, both to see incoming enemies and to behold the Stairway itself. It was… quite large, to put it in light terms. Even with his enhanced eyes, he could only barely see the light at the very top of it, leading to Hoshido. He could, however, see the numerous corpses strewn along the path. Some were simply torn apart but a few had been outright stabbed into a nearby spike, prompting the young man to back away in shock. Obviously, there were no survivors. Seemingly, all the soldiers posted there had died, and their own killers were nowhere to be found. Did they run off into Hoshido itself to kill off some more soldiers?

A voice emanated out of the darkness. "Masters." Spoke the voice, though there was something wrong in it. They could all hear and recognize what was being said, of course, but it's like they were told by something that could not speak and yet had some vocal cords in its throat. All twisted, wrong and able to send a chill through Corrin's spine. He immediately drew his sword and held it out, being soon joined by the Royals and Tello. Seeing this, the beasts that beckoned emerged forth out of the shadows as well, intending to clear up the confusion. Their mere appearance though, was very nearly enough to drive an attack.

They could see that they were dealing with Faceless, but they were wrong. None of the flesh golems that stood before them looked… normal. There already wasn't much normality about the giants, but at least their body shape, through grotesque, was still vaguely human. Two arms, two legs and one head that had a heavy mask protecting it. All made out of necrotic flesh of course, but at the very least the Faceless was somewhat familiar.

There was nothing familiar with those beasts though. They all looked wrong, in a way that the royals would take too much time describing. The only thing that they shared with the regular Faceless were the green, decomposing flesh, as well as a certain height. But otherwise, they were mockeries of living beings. Odd writhing mountains of flesh with limbs sticking out of parts of their bodies. At least one looked like a massive spider, with massive fangs and six overlong long arms that it used to support its body.

Another had three heads poking out of its neck, though about two were emerging out of the first one's neck, and it had four massive arms and four legs, giving the impression of being a bizarre centaur. Its face was all wrong. It has features, but it was almost like they were stretching out of its head in a way. The eyes, the nose, the mouth and others were visible but below the skin for some reason, not that this seemed to bother the undead, who was able to easily slaughter a troop worth of Hoshidans even with its handicap.

The leader was the less grotesque but he still had exposed muscles there and there and a hood of a sort to mask its head… With the hood itself being an handing pick of its own neck. It also had a muscular frame and body: That Pegasus that it was holding in its massive hands looked like a pony in comparison, and it threw it into the abyss with casual ease, stepping forth before kneeling to its "masters". The beast's companions imitated it, with varying degrees of success since not all of them had knees.

"We…" The leader sounded as if he was almost permanently recovering breath between each word. "Have defeated… the enemy… Lord Xander…"

"W-w-what are you?!" Questioned the Crown Prince. "Explain yourself at once!"

The beast peeked up at Xander. The glowing eye hinted at confusion. "Milord… We were sent to help you… The letter must have been lost but… express no anger nor worry." The being said, almost fearfully. "We are here to help. Proof…" It swept at the scene of the slaughter with its massive hand. "We have killed… the enemy… Do you like it?"

"Y-yes." Said Leo, raising his hand to take command. "We appreciate your help. I take it that you are here to help us with the matter of Fort Jinya?"

"Yes… We were sent in… To help… Sorry if we frightened you…" The being coughed. "The others… cannot speak but all strive to serve you… and we did so accurately…" It brought up a finger. "Is that the good word?"

"Yes." Assured Leo. Once more, he calmed any protest with a knowing nod. Having those grotesque beings in sight was revolting, and they've obviously done wrong, but at the same time they were allies it seemed. And it would be most foolish to remove said allies when they were about to engage in a tough battle against Fort Jinya. And if those… things could so casually kill off the soldiers that were posted there, to the point of badly freaking out the otherwise stone-faced members of the wind tribe, well then.

"Good… I'm sorry, we haven't been taught… language all of us… I speak for the others because that is my purpose."

"What purpose bring you here? Are you a Faceless?"

The being clutched its hood a bit. "Yes." It said. "We were made to… help you. If you chase us away, then what will we do?"

"We won't chase you." Said Leo. "You did your work."

"Leo." Whispered Xander.

"What can I say? While it's true that they've done their work gruesomely, they still cleared the path for us, and it's not like we would've done any better considering how Hoshidans fight to their last breath." He said. "Yes, I understand that you are hesitant, but in a war, one cannot be picky with what they're given. And from a moral stand-point, it is easier to take them along with us and rein them instead of abandoning them somewhere and letting them roam freely." He pointed out. "And fighting them would be pointless. We have an opportunity to go through the Stairway without wasting lives or weapons, we should take it."

Xander contemplated Leo's point and glanced at Corrin, who simply stared at the abominations. He was angry at them, on one hand, but he couldn't feel actual malice out of its voice. It was more akin to a child that couldn't comprehend what it was doing. A child the size of an elephant, with a deformed body built for killing, that already showed its ability to decimate a troop with only a few of its kind for backup, but nonetheless, it seemed to be almost confused at the horrified faces.

"Have we done anything wrong? Have… we missed a soldier?"

"You clearly haven't." Said Xander. "Faceless soldiers, I appreciate your duty to Nohr. You have done well to-" The Faceless chortled and their muscle masses writhed as they basked in the praise. He didn't know if they understood it or were doing something unrelated. Likely the former, he hoped, since the Faceless could at least understand human commands. "To clear the path ahead of us. I thank you. And yes, you will be taken to help with the attack on Fort Jinya." He said. "But there may be some orders you will need to follow. For one, you will strive to avoid taking lives once the battle is over and after the enemy has surrendered." Leo raised his arms above his head. "If the enemy is holding their arms up and dropping their weapons, you are not to kill them. They are no longer a threat to you or the Nohrian kingdom, and it becomes our duty to ensure that they must be taken prisoners."

"Prisoners?" The Faceless asked this as if Leo spoke in some new language that it couldn't decipher, and even leaned forward, putting a large bloody hand on its head as if it was trying to figure it out. "Taught to… kill… only…"

"If so, then you must let the other soldiers capture the people who surrender." Said Leo. "I do not know why you seem to be so… strongly insistent on killing, but know that we need to keep things straight in this army, and the captured soldiers can always inform us about the Hoshidan high command's plans and others."

"Yes if… someone surrenders, we move away… Good…" The other Faceless beings decided to grunt, as if expressing approval, and Leo turned to gaze upwards. "Well, let's head out, shall we?"

…

The trip upwards wasn't particularly hard. The Nohrians were well trained and the cave's cold wind was something of a refresher after spending so many days underneath the sun. But even the Nohrian soldiers couldn't help but glance at the Faceless with something akin to suspicion in their eyes. They were large deformed monsters, after all, and they didn't trust these beasts not to decide to attack them all of a sudden, like their weaker counterparts. Corrin couldn't blame these soldiers, since the artificial beings did cause quite the rampage. He shuddered, in fact, to think of what would happen if they were left unchecked to go rampage across the fort. Sure, they would need to do victims here, but he wondered just how many Hoshidans would even get the time to surrender before these mountains of necrotic flesh would start going to town on them.

"You are troubled." Azura voice rung from the side and he looked to the right to notice her walking along him. "Those Faceless are causing you to ask yourself questions, am I right?"

"Y-yeah." He admitted. "I hope that we'll be able to get them to surrender in time…"

The songstress knew that they would never surrender. Jinya was an essential spot for Nohr to spring the rest of their invasion forth, and Hoshido would rather see it destroyed than taken. The soldiers would either blow it up or would fight to the last against the overwhelming forces deployed against them, so she shook her head. "Hoshido is not a country that back off." She admitted. "You will need to do a lot of damage for that… But the victims are expected in a war. All that suffering won't be worth anything if we give up." She tried to sound like old Gunter, who was hanging in the back. "I'm sorry, Corrin."

"It's… fine." He said. "I know what need to be done." He frowned. "After Jinya, we should have Suzanoh left and then it should be a path to Shirasagi castle. There are other cities but they will be captured in advance. And I can only hope that they will be caught by the people who believe in us."

"On the brighter side, we're not close to the end of the war." She said. "Once we've taken Shirasagi, Hoshido will surrender and…" She looked around. No point about talking about what'd need to be done with Garon. The old king was definitely not giving up his crown that easily or he was looking to trick them. Either way, he needed to be taken care of. And that would mean perhaps going through Iago and Hans. He contemplated on what he heard Shura say back when they saved Mozu, about the inevitability of a civil war. If they got Garon, then the scumbags who stuck with him would also try to rise up to keep the power that they've managed to worm their way into.

Not that he was particularly fearful or even apprehensive. Well, he would rather not have brothers and sisters fight to the death, but he'd very much enjoy beating Hans into a whimpering pulp, or even splitting Garon in half with a sword swing. And while he knew that those were bad thoughts to have, fueled by anger and resentment, he actually didn't mind these violent images or the violent voice that accompanied them. If he were honest, he's been thinking about sending Hans straight to hell ever since last year, when the brutish man attacked those Hoshidans at the canyon and sent Gunter to the bottom of it. And while the older man had survived, Corrin's anger at Hans for that particular act hadn't dropped one bit. He still came close to killing him after all.

The next time he'd see him though, he'd challenge him according to old Nohrian rules and would beat the crap out of him. This would teach him a lesson first and foremost, and it would allow Corrin to be able to beat him to his heart's desires without risking anything. Of course, the bald man would refuse, but he was too stupid, too arrogant too, to consider himself threatened by the younger man. Corrin would've continued to think about how much he hated that hairless ape of a Nohrian, but the sun ahead revealed that they were close to crossing out into Hoshido again. Leo turned towards the Faceless, who were walking/hobbling/crawling along next to them and gestured at the horizon, prompting the beasts to move ahead and out of the stairway to check for any potential defense, in the hope that they would be able to overcome it in time… Or die trying. Not that this particular scenario bothered Corrin nor Leo. The group left the Stairway, and set their sights on the green land in front of them now, with a cool, soft wind blowing forth instead of a battering gale. A particularly nostalgic soldier even took off his helmet. "Heh." He said. "I can feel the wind without it smacking me in the face." He said. And there was truth to his word, in that the wind definitely didn't smack him in the face. The hand of the Berserker next to him, however, definitely did.

"Put your helmet back, you shit! We're back in hostile territory!"

"Easy boys." Said Tello. "You're right, but we should keep our actual blows against the enemy. Speaking of that." Tello swept his eyes across the horizon and managed to spot Fort Jinya in the distance, thanks to the immense tower present on its center, just like he could see a lot of Hoshidans being torn apart and killed by the Faceless nearby, their guardposts being quickly reduced to rubbles by the Faceless's mighty charges was probably demoralizing, on one hand. On the other, though, they'd lose the advantage of surprise. Not like they really had it, given their size and proximity to the guards, but Tello at least hoped that he could get into position.

"Alright… Set up the balistas and other devices." He said. "A few of you will stay behind and guard the structures. You'll use this position to batter away at the fort from afar and weaken the place for the attack." He ordered. "Avoid the tower, it's where the civilians are at and _those guys _don't have weapons or, at least, won't have the skill to use it. Just kill everything with an uniform that isn't ours though, simple?"

"It would be good if we could get the fort in proper condition but don't hesitate to cause some damage. Anything that could help us fight our way through will help greatly!" Advised Camilla, before approaching the rest of the siblings. "The Malig Squad is prepared, but we're going to need to remove those pesky archers before we can attack the Fort from the inside. And there's bound to be plenty of them."

"We're going to beat the squad positioned in front of the fort." Said Xander. "We'll use the nearby dragon vein to force the door open and then enter in. Once the Archers are disrupted enough, you and the other flies will move in and provide aerial support. Some of you may also consider picking up the slower units and placing them in the fort itself."

"Of course." Suggested Camilla. "But we will need to fight their own flying squadrons first. And we may need some help. I think that you should send in the close-combat units to the fort itself, but keep those capable of long range fighting outside! That way, they will be able to better provide support against the flying squads. Once we've got enough leeway, we'll then bring them in the fort itself. That way, there'll be more spaces for them to count on."

"Yes. In the fort itself, the mages will need the support of the other fighters to avoid having to confront Hoshido's mighty samurais in their preferred range." Leo nodded. "But we will need to protect them. Ninjas can easily get to them and spark heavy damage if they manage to stick in. I suggest that we offer the Faceless to protect them against those ninjas. Half of them should be enough to quickly dispatch them, and the rest will help in the fort. That way, it should be easier to contain them."

"Good idea."

Corrin was listening to their quiet conversation from the very edge of the hill they stood on, observing the fort. It was an important spot, and another turning point to the war, so… was a royal there, perhaps? It wasn't likely, since Fort Jinya was facing overwhelming odds and the soldiers inside were set to die while taking down as many Nohrians as they could, but at the same time, Hoshido likely had something up their sleeve. Why, perhaps the entire Hoshidan fraternity was actually hidden away beneath the white walls, ready to wage the ultimate battle? Hm… On one hand, that was outlandish, on the other, fate had done well in bringing him with his siblings in multiple occasions, even when he wasn't excepting them.

"You shouldn't miss the reunion." Chided the approaching Beruka, standing behind Corrin. "They will need to explain everything to you again."

"I-I know, sorry!" He smiled and scratched the back of his head. "Just thinking of if there are royals or not here. Heh… What do you think?"

Beruka raised an eyebrow and looked at the fort below. "Hm. They'd die." She admitted. "Fort Jinya will fall to us. The King is heading there, after all. They would need to be really stupid or unlucky to allow a member of their royal bloodline to stay there." Beruka shrugged. "… Are you okay?" She asked.

"Y-yeah, I'll be." He said. "I'm… I might just have to do a weird request, though."

"Of what nature?"

…

The entire Nohrian Army had ran down the hill to gather in front of the Fort, in a manner that was quite hasty yet efficient enough to get them all to stand down at the end of the structure. The Hoshidans supposed to stop them laid dead at their feet, thanks to the towering monstrosities that stood behind the royals, all of whom were on horse. All of whom except Corrin, who had insisted to go in barefoot. The request would be insane for anyone else, but Xander approved it, since Corrin has the physical competencies to actually make his demand work.

"Nohrians!" Xander concluded his speech. "We have defeated the Hoshidans at Goemon's trap, and we will defeat them again here!" He rose Siegfried above his head. "And dealt an important blow to Hoshido! But yet, they dismissed this is a lucky stroke! They see our advance as fate smiling down on us! Let us prove them wrong for good! Let us defeat them, right here and now! And see if they blame this crushing defeat on the tides of destiny!"

The Nohrians roared right as the Hoshidans decided to attack with a storm of spells, though most of those were thankfully quickly countered by a similarly-massive spellstorm from the dark mages. The projectiles began to fly overhead as one massive army budged forward towards the other, forming a massive charge that could knock down a massive mountain! And, facing this mighty stampede, there stood Hoshido's finest, spears deployed and shields raised, forming a defense that could stalemate a raging hurricane! More projectiles ran all over the sky, forming various lines that crashed against each other for the more parts, though explosions could be seen on the ground, hitting unlucky soldiers. The figureheads though, managed to survive the onslaught and Corrin began to run alongside Xander and the others.

Slowly though, instead of running alongside, he overtook, and soon, began to run way past Xander and the others, easily outpatcing the entire army with his legs alone. This stunned the others, but caused them to quicken the pace, almost inspired. Seeing the approaching traitors, the Hoshidans tightened their defenses further, but Corrin remembered how Yato worked. He grasped his sword and got rid of his doubts and pain. He forgot who he was fighting, and for whom, and focused purely on his current situation. His current fight against overwhelming odds…

The young man leapt, screaming, and slammed Yato into the army… And a pillar of purple energy answered his call.

…

**N/A**: Well I kinda lied! But there's action at the end!

Introducing more differences. Smart Faceless! They're inspired by a special character in My Hero Academia but are different. I hope you'll like 'em!

Few Beruka this chapter but this is fine, I hope. You'll see more of her in the final fight for sure!

See ya later!


	35. The fight for Fort Jinya

It was odd to describe how he felt. He guessed that he felt…. Free ? Corrin didn't care about Hoshido, or Nohr, or what he was doing at all, in fact. All that mattered to him was that he was in a fight, and his goal was to win it. And while he wouldn't be cruel not arrogant in his attempt to win… Well, he still intended to make it to the end, and would not hold back. That was fighting "selfishly" for him, yes. To constantly look out for oneself and fight not for some higher cause, but because he was in a bad situation and needed all his might to get out of it.

He had done it at Goemon's trap, he had done it against Fuga and he was doing it again. And it was almost unnerving to see how easy it was for him to fight seriously when he wanted to. With one swing of his sword, he could easily send several tough soldier flying into the horizon right before moving through the warring armies effortlessly, effortlessly dodging the blows sent his way and responding with effortless strikes on his own. Wherever Corrin moved, soldiers would emerge… After being sent flying with immense force first, of course.

Beruka found it rather entertaining to watch, but was distracted with a higher goal of not dying as well. As usual, she and the other flying squads had taken the upper hand against their foes, but they were currently suffering from the support brought by the archers below, safe behind their walls. The archers were thankfully busy shooting down at the army below as well, but it didn't mean that they couldn't lob deadly arrows at the group, giving the kinshi knights some breathing room to allow them to back off and draw their own bows.

Luckily for them, an intelligent Faceless had noticed the Wyvern Riders's current troubles and made its way through the Hoshidans before jumping directly into the white walls of the fort, landing directly next to the snipers and using its massive hands to swipe away at them, sending them all flying and pretty much killing them on the spot. A bunch of flying units moved away from the fight to try to deal with the Faceless, allowing Beruka and the others to focus purely on their foe. They'd help the Faceless, but it was better to defeat the enemy outright and then help the beast, instead of not exploiting their distraction to their advantage. Beruka flew forward and grasped the Thunder tome in her hands, focusing magic into her hands. The tome was naught but a conduit for her to channel lightnings through her fingertips and fire it at a sky knight, with such speed that the woman could only raise her arm to defend herself.

While the winged horses had a resistance to magic that was innate, and could extend it as an aura for whoever was wielding it, the smoke of the blast caused some confusion for the sky knight, and Beruka easily grasped her axe before flying forth, cleaving the soldier in half and causing her body to drop down into the ground below. "Good work!" Said Camilla. "You are mastering magic quickly!"

"Hm." Beruka channeled it again and fired it at a Kinshi Knight, who managed to dodge and lobbed some arrows. The bluehead dodged them all and both women circled around the air for a moment, throwing projectiles at one another until Camilla rose from below and swiftly disabled the knight with a rising uppercut from her axe. Then, Camilla swooped down towards the fortified walls and leapt off her wyvern right alongside Beruka and a few other daring fighters, arriving right in front of the reinforcement for the archers.

"Don't forget! It's not because they have no head that they're dead!"

"Yes." Beruka promptly disproved Camilla's words with her follow up strike, and the axe-wielding Nohrians easily made their way through the archers at close range, denying them the chance to lob even one arrow. A fairly daring attack, since the Nohrians could easily be overwhelmed by reinforcements, but most of these were busy with the Faceless, who seemed to keep going no matter how hard they tried to fill it with arrows.

The situation in front of the fort was also going rather well for Nohr. Xander was leading a finishing sweeping charge, aiming to gather his countrymen and have them perform a wide attack on the enemy so as to finish them off. The young prince was, of course, leading the charge, deflecting projectiles thrown his way and decimating scores of enemies with potent blasts from Siegfried. The other royals, bar Elise and Camilla, were following him as well, with the Nohrians tides gaining more and more numbers as the Hoshidans were either crushed or cut apart by the flurry of weapons.

"We've got them!" Tello said, as he swung his trusty hammer to batter away a Samurai. "We need to open the gates!" Mages, take formation! Generals, protect the mages from ninjas! Wait until we've cleared the fort before entering!"

"Incoming!" Yelled a random bow knight on Nohr, pointing at the sky to warn his companions. Up above, a magic projectile was falling towards the gate, and a particularly eagle-eyed mage was likely cheering with his friends over his accuracy. Unluckily for him, the projectile struck the gate… and failed to open it wide. Instead, the gates proved their own resistance when they more than held up to the attack, remaining intact even after being struck with much force!

"Damn Hoshidans! You can trust them to make some solid defenses!" Tello said. "If we give them too much time, they're going to be able to regroup and attacking will be much harder! We need to force the gates down!"

"I can do that!" Said Corrin. Xander, however, ignored his younger brother and sped towards the gates himself. Up above, Beruka and the others had been forced back into the battlements, but weren't giving away any ground now, and the Faceless was still very much smashing Hoshidans around. This allowed Xander to be left alone as he grasped the legendary weapon and pointed it at the door, unleashing forth a bolt of pure power and striking the structure. And while it had held up to the fury of magic, the might of Siegfried was too much to take for the structure, and the mighty gates were crumbled away in a mighty strike, hurling their massive debris backwards and crashing into unlucky soldiers or part of the fort.

"W-whoah!" Contemplated a particular soldier. "Why are we even fighting in this war when they can do that?" But the soldier's complaints were drowned out when the horde of soldiers charged forth across the wooden bridge, bringing them into the fort itself. Xander, who was leading the fray, immediately scored first blood when he charged a disorganized group, casually tossing them aside in his mad charge. And those agile enough to dodge the stampede quickly ended up buffeted away by a potent magical spell, courtesy of Leo. A few paladins then ran after their prince, further causing chaos amongst the lines.

"Our cue!" Camilla swung her axe to push back a charging line of Samurais and then leapt away, getting back on her wyvern along with Beruka and the others. The Hoshidans briefly howled in victory before a bunch of charging Nohrian troops managed to ram into them, causing a quick yet gruesome victory on the battlements, and meanwhile, the Faceless was done with its job, having thoroughly crushed the reinforcement's reinforcements. It moved to join its companions to protect some mages, landing atop a ninja who was about to stab a charging dark mage.

In the actual battlefield, things were getting more complicated, but some form of Nohrian unity could still be found. Having bested their foes at a aerial duel, the Malig Knights were free to bombard the Hoshidans with spells, when they weren't busy dropping troops on their heads. Beruka hadn't played with her axe much, constantly using her tome to cause damage from afar instead of abusing her tomahawks. After all, the lightning magic was faster and caused "splash damage" that was more useful to her than tomahawks. A good tomahawk throw could fell at least one soldier, perhaps one or two more. But a potent lightning spell could easily score dozen more than that, and even more at the hands of a skilled caster. She wasn't quite that yet, but Beruka's obsession with proving herself meant that she was slinging basic spells with ease.

But more than spell-slinging, she was also picking up slower units and dropping them right into the fray. It was an hazardous manoeuver (most units appreciated being dropped next to allies, instead of hostiles, and would also very much like not being dropped from very high above) but one that some Nohrians enjoyed, as attested by Effie, who was observing the battlefield cautiously. "Here!" She pointed at a horde of Swordmaster, who were proving too tough to defeat for a bunch of Nohrians, and Beruka dropped her right into the middle of them, aware that Effie would not have it any other way. And indeed, she made quite the entrance by slamming down into a bunch of soldiers and, with a good spin from her trusty spear, blowing them all away, giving the Nohrians time to regroup with her and prevent herself from being overwhelmed. Beruka contemplated helping her out, but then flew back to acquire another soldier to throw at the enemy.

Below, the invasion was going fairly well. With the support of the mages to take care of projectiles and the sheer offensive power of the royals, the battle was going well for the Nohrians, though of course, they weren't going through this without losses. In fact, more losses started to pile up on Nohr's side as Hoshido started to regain their bearing, forming pockets of defense within the fort that held up to the numerous attacks on them.

On one side, multiple poisoned shuriken tore through some of the finest Nohrian armor as if it was made out of paper, firing with such accuracy and power that even the heaviest armored units were having trouble. Yukimura, Hoshido's tactician, was out in the open, to the general surprise of Nohr: Yukimura was an important asset to Hoshido, and yet here he was, fighting a losing battle where it was certain that he would be killed. And yet, he fought fiercely, commanding his puppet with all the experience of Hoshido's finest, staining the floor of the fortress he defended with an increasing amount of Nohrian blood.

"I've got a bead on him." Niles suggested, sneaking behind the group that Yukimura was commanding and taking a shot at him with his trusty bow.

"Don't kill him." Warned Fuga. "There's lot of intel to gain out of that guy. Aim for the hands, that'll significantly lower his output."

"Sure, how about I shoot the fly hovering near him too?" Niles aimed and shot, and to Fuga's disbelief, nearly aimed true. However, a wooden limb rose to block the projectile, and a storm of projectiles struck the spot where the two outlaws were standing, with both men barely getting out of the way in time. The puppeteer who aimed at them didn't take his chance though, and fired at the blind spot a few more times to further discourage his foes.

The other big group had an archer within them, as the ground troops could attest by seeing just how many of their friends were now dropping out of the sky like flies. Corrin looked up in fear: Both for Beruka and Camilla (as well as the other survivors) and also because he feared that Takumi had joined the battle. He was confident in his ability to fight and defeat him but… wasn't it too early? What was a royal even doing in this doomed place?

"They have a dragon vein within the fort." Camilla flew down next to Xander, during a lull in fighting. Right now, the enemies were mostly fighting in their little "pockets" in the fort, and while the royals never had their guards down in a fight, they could afford quickly talking. The troops rushed everywhere around them, eagerly stepping over fallen bodies or bringing wounded comrades to the medics. "It's healing those in the west square, and it's making it really easy for them to weather the assault, we're going to need an overwhelmingly strong strike to defeat them all in one stroke, or else they'll heal."

"I see… They're only delaying the inevitable, let us quickly end this fight by storming them!"

"Wait!" Corrin snapped himself off from his own battle rush, so to speak, and looked. "Let me lead this assault! I can handle the arrows and I can fight Takumi!"

"This isn't your brother." Camilla winced. "It's that adorable little girl from Izumo, I think… Well, I'd say that she isn't so cute now that she's skewering dozens of us with arrows, but if you ask me, she's even more adorable in my opinion."

"Focus." Said Leo. Corrin, meanwhile, gasped in horror. Sakura was here? With those mindless brutes going around smashing everything? How quickly would they reach her? He absolutely had to get here.

"I'm going to stop her. Don't let those atrocities get anywhere near close to Sakura!" He said. "I'll be able to subdue her quickly, just get the troops to stand back while I get there, it'll be quick!"

"Very well. We'll handle the tactician." Said Xander. "I do wonder what he's doing here… Bah, it doesn't matter for now. Good luck."

The royals separated: Corrin speeded west, while everyone else went east. Beruka, for her part, wasn't going Corrin's way for once, since she was actively trying her hardest to dodge Sakura's arrows. For a small, harmless-looking girl, she was quite vicious. Vicious enough that Beruka was reminded of the storm of arrows deployed by her brother in Cheve. And this time, there would be no water source to catch her fall if Altena were to get hit, prompting the rider to head at lower altitude to get out of Sakura's sight and jump from a lesser distance if a projectile ever struck. Apparently, the source of healing in the west portion of the fort (announced by an intense blue glow) meant that she could fully dedicate to the offense, and focusing on whittling down the troops that could attack from above and ferry slower units around.

Beruka eventually left Sakura's onslaught, only to be led into Yukimura. Or rather, a goon of his, who was fiercely defending his master from any attempt at circumventing the blue-haired man's overwhelming assault. The puppet's fast rate of fire and its owner's accuracy ultimately proved to be a sizable challenge. Lesser than Sakura's, but still irritating enough to get Beruka to actually pull off some rather desperate maneuvers in her attempt to avoid being outright skewered along with her mount. But still, all the manoeuvers in the world wouldn't stop what seemed to be inevitable: She was slowly getting closer to being shot to pieces with every moment, perhaps because she was recognized as the slayer of Orochi and Reina or simply because the Hoshidan refused to allow the enemy to be able to freely attack from above. Beruka gritted her teeth as a projectile barely missed her, tearing through her flesh to create a gash on her cheek. With her dead angle, dodging was harder than ever, and Altena could only remain focused for so long while having to dodge on onslaught on attacks from another side.

Then, out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning flew and the projectiles sent her way were reduced to mere ashes by a powerful magical spell. Beruka glanced as Camilla flew in, wielding her tome. "That was close!" She said. "A few more seconds of this and you would've been hard to distinguish from a sponge, my dearest retainer! And by that, I mean that you'd be full of holes."

"Thank you." Beruka eyed the mass below. "We will need to work together to defeat this threat, or am I wrong?"

"You're absolutely correct! Well, the others are planning to launch a big a-woops!" The two riders flew out of the way of another group of shots. While Camilla used her raw magical power to disperse the projectiles, Beruka just flew away skillfully. Thankfully, the ground troops had gathered themselves together so the enemy were spending more resources on firing away at them, throwing such a large amount of projectiles that even the intelligent Faceless or the princes (bar Corrin, if he took his draconic form and was here) would get shredded to pieces if they stuck their head out.

"How are we gonna approach them?" Asked Camilla. "I'd quite love to just shoot at them but they'd just block it!"

Beruka contemplated her book and thought of her ability at throwing stuff. Putting two and two together, she grabbed her book and tore its pages in two, damaging it and causing the magic gathered within to "overload". While tomes were mostly there to channel a spell, they had magic of their own, and directly damaging the tome could result in the magic within leaking and eventually exploding. This is why Nohr always kept its tome reserves locked away, with a lot of measures to ensure that Hoshido wouldn't try anything to sabotage them.

"What are you do-" Beruka didn't listen to Camilla, and just grabbed the tome before throwing it at the group directly, using her precise skills to make the throw. Of course, launching a tome was different than launching a tomahawk, since the tome was obviously lighter and explicitly not made to be thrown at the enemy, but her insane tactic worked surprisingly well nonetheless, or at least, more than most would expect it to. The tome blew up above the group, prompting them to stop the onslaught because of the general surprise and damage to their eyesight. But yet, it wasn't enough. The tome had exploded too far above, and there wasn't enough magic left to really cause damage to it. Already, Yukimura was raising his hands to fire more shurikens blindly, determined not to give up.

So, deciding to take a proactive step in stopping him, the young woman stood up on Altena, grabbed her axe and leapt down directly into the group of very angry Hoshidans, much to the surprise of Camilla. Spinning a little to ease the landing, she managed to nail it in spite of her reduced vision, landing directly behind Yukimura, on his puppet. The tactician noted the attack and turned around to better gauge it perhaps, and ate a punch to the face for his trouble, ending up struck with such force by Beruka's fist that teeth and glass fragments flew along the air, along with some of his blood. The assassin would be satisfied with the outcome if she hadn't been directly placed in the middle of a bunch of very angry Hoshidans, who were now all staring at her intently. One of them raised his katana, but plenty others aimed their weapons at her. And while she could handle a sword, she wasn't so sure of her ability to dodge the weaponry at such close range. True, Yukimura was right besides her, but Hoshidan sharpshooters were legendary for their ability at shooting and they were likely skilled enough not to accidentally shoot their tactician in the face.

Or they just didn't care. After all, Yukimura had been knocked out and was likely to be captured by Nohr. Killing him to prevent informations from being leaked was likely something that he had ordered if he were to fall, or was about to. As a result, they'd likely hold nothing back. Beruka readied herself for her fate, knowing that she, at least, managed to make things easy for the group. She just regretted not being able to say her goodbye to some people but… ah, well.

"Kill her!" They said, and Beruka held her axe, as if it alone could change her fate. Fortunately for her, fate had a different idea. And it manifested as Altena herself, swooping down from below to smash directly into one of the machinists aiming at her. Both machine and human alike found themselves on the receiving end of having about two tons worth of muscle and claws landing directly on top of them, causing the machine to scatter and the Hoshidan to suffer a rather grisly fate. Then, she went and swung her tail as Beruka ducked, causing most of the people aiming at her to duck as well, or die thanks to sudden massive damage to their bones. Seeing the occasion, Beruka leapt atop Altena and the wyvern took off right as the other Nohrians saw their chances and charged, quickly capturing the Hoshidans who weren't knocked out or dead by that point. Beruka held unto her beast, keeping her eye closed as Camilla met up with her. "Well, I do appreciate your reckless lack of concern for your safety." She said, approaching and putting her hand on Beruka to prevent her from slipping away. Camilla glanced at her retainer with a look of confusion. "Are you okay?"

"Hrm." Beruka wished to grunt something in approval, but her throat felt dry and she could barely even muster the strength to blink. Slowly, she realized what had happened to her and put an end on her cheek wound. Yes, of course Yukimura would dip his projectiles in poison. A poison sharp enough to overcome her built-in resistance, too. If it had been anyone else but her, they would probably be dead… Though in fairness, perhaps it was a poison that she was unused to. After all, building up resistance to poison does not grant immunity against all toxins per magic.

Regardless, the cause mattered little. Beruka was poisoned, and she slowly felt her grip weaken, threatening to get her to drop several feet in mid-air. Luckily, Camilla had a different idea, leaping forth to grab her retainer before she could drop off and then hoisting her up. "I'd rather you live to drink a toast with me!" She declared. "I'd be sad if I had to celebrate this victory with only Selena, you know how much of a party pooper she can be at times!"

Beruka grunted something, but failed to really do anything beyond that. Her limbs felt tied to heavy weight, and even breathing was a bit difficult. She could only resign herself to be thrown around like a ragdoll, as Camilla flew down near Elise. However, the mere idea that she'd be seen vulnerable caused her to shoot her hand forward to grab Camilla. "Please…" She said. "Not… in front of the others, I… I must not look…"

"Hm? Oh, you have your pride! Riighht!" Camilla flew up as the Nohrians caught the Hoshidans, leaving only one other major pocket of resistance. "You shouldn't feel bad about being seen in danger though, you know! You've done a great deed for everyone! I'm sure none of them are going to laugh at you for being weakened by the poison. And if they do, well, you're going to be laughing at them, because I'll cut their tongues off! Well, not like you really do laugh at much."

"… Heh." Beruka actually let out a muffled grunt, which Camilla interpreted as laughter. "F-fine…" She admitted, though she was also just partly convinced that the poison would spread to her heart and kill her if she held on healing. Wisely, the princess went for her sister, aware that her knowledge of haling magic, and general raw power with it by virtue of her status as a royal child, would allow her to more easily undo the toxin that had struck her.

"O-oh! Beruka! Are you alright?" She asked, perhaps rather naively. The assassin contemplated telling the young woman off for not being able to see that she was sick, but her temper held. And besides, Camilla was thankfully quick to precise what was happening, stepping off her horse while Beruka's arm was wrapped around her shoulder, being supported by the elder princess.

"Well, my dear Elise, obviously Beruka isn't really doing all too good! And she might need your help to recover quickly!"

"Y-yes! Sorry!" Elise shoved her hands in a tiny bag, containing several staves of various shapes and sizes. Beruka grunted, expecting the blonde to fumble through, but Elise pulled through and pulled out a short purple staff, tapping Beruka in the upper chest with it. The poison faded, but only partially: When Beruka tried to stand up, she found herself on quivering legs, and Camilla's intervention barely managed to stop her from faceplanting in front of a bunch of Nohrian soldiers. Elise didn't seem too surprised by the staff's somewhat failure at removing the ailment. In fact, Beruka deciding to stand up was seemingly the more surprising element for her, and she moved to help her up as well.

"Oh, it's a tough poison then! Alright, Beruka, you're going to need to sit back and take the time to heal after this! There are a few remedies that will help you bring this nasty thing down!" As she spoke, Elise switched staves, rather casually bringing aids to her fellow Nohrians while still looking at the two women. Camilla smiled quietly, but Beruka grunted in annoyance. "Oh, I know it's annoying! But Hoshidans make those strong poisons that can't be so easily bested by a staff for a reason! Don't worry though, you're a toughie, so you'll be up on your feet in two days top!" She then frowned slightly, and Beruka was reminded very slightly of Xander. "But don't try to do anything dangerous while you're recovering! Because you're doing that, recovering! You shouldn't stay on that crazy battlefield with all these dangerous monsters and Samurais and other words that sound really scary!"

"Tsk." Beruka knew Elise meant well, but having herself be ordered around by a child, regardless of the child's status, was a bit of a blow. At the very least, the other Nohrians royals were heading towards them, and the situation had somewhat settled going by how the other Nohrian soldiers were all heading straight for the other part of the fort. Xander himself walked at Beruka and held his hand out.

"Congratulations on dispatching Yukimura." He said. Beruka stared at his hand and moved her own to shake it, ignoring the pain and weight of her arm to do so. "Ah…" He noticed the small scar. "Well, we are fortunate that you walked away with an injury such as this. Plenty would have died even attempting to pull off the manoeuver that you just performed. My most sincere congratulations upon you!" Xander glanced at his retainers. "My retainers wouldn't be caught doing this."

"In fairness, my lord, I would rather not get shot." Said Laslow, shrugging. Then, he and Peri (who hadn't heard) left for the other part of the battlefield. Xander turned around.

"Well, I would like to congratulate you again, but there is another battlefront to attend to. You should hang back for now though. Perhaps we could ask a soldier…"

"Oh, I'll escort my little retainer off to safety! With Corrin and my dear Selena on the offensive, I doubt that this little princess is going to last long against Nohr!"

"I see…. Well, your help would still be appreciated, since Corrin is facing his sister, but I trust that our combined might will be enough."

…

Corrin and the others were facing a storm of arrows and spell, coming out not just from Sakura, but from the mages and archers near her. By that point, they knew the battle was lost, so they deployed their absolute best to make sure that Nohr would lose its elite soldiers while attempting to get to them. The young prince groaned at the sight of Sakura lobbing arrows with enough dexterity and speed to remind him of Takumi. Without a doubt, the youth had taught his sister how to use a bow in case she even needed to.

He remembered, from his brief months in the castle, that Sakura had asked Takumi to do so. Hinoka and Ryoma had managed to forbid her from using a weapon that would get her close to the enemy, but she got around the issue by asking to be taught with bows. That she'd ever get so good at it surprised Corrin, but not that much. Sakura had that Hoshidan blaze within her, buried away beneath the timid demeanor. It stood at reason that she'd be a fierce enemy once she decided to unleash her might.

"We need to approach Sakura and get her hostage, they'll likely surrender once we manage to get her hostage." Said Selena. "But with that barrage… We're going to need to force our way in to get past. Well, unless you have some brilliant last idea to throw our way, mister prince!"

"I think I have an idea but it's kinda… weird." He said, looking down at the ground. Transforming one of his hands into a massive claw, he struck the pavement so as to make a hole. "I'm going to try to emerge in the middle of them. Soon as I do, I'll try to knock them all out at once. They're not really grouped together to avoid being wiped out by a projectile, but I could still use my… erm, tail attack." He looked away. "To knock them away. And then, you can approach them and neutralize Sakura. But without killing her, of course!" He said, attempting to give himself a glare to prevent anyone from getting an idea that would be displeasing. Luckily, Selena seemed accepting of it, only nodding once.

"Hey, who are ya taking me for? I'm not a jerk." Selena winked right at Corrin while doing so, but then, when the prince stared silently at her, she raised an angry eyebrow, prompting the young man to nod very awkwardly.

"Y-yeah, you're very agreeable actually!" He said, putting his hands up so as to defend himself just in case., before digging into the ground. Seeing this, the mages nearby began to attack the group, so as to distract them. Indeed, the new battlefield was filled with a blue light that could passively heal the wound of Hoshidan soldiers, but apparently didn't exchange that courtesy to Nohrian ones, as attested by the numerous dead soldiers who had tried to go at melee and fell to Sakura's onslaught, having expected that the projectiles wounds would go away.

Corrin dug quite easily, but made sure to avoid being seen and was pretty careful in digging through stuff. Once he was satisfied, he then began to claw his way through the ground using his two transformed hands, easily progressing through a tunnel of a sort. His superior senses easily detected the location of his foes, and he knew exactly where he needed to go before emerging. The only part that bothered him, as he turned around, was that Selena was also crouching in the tunnel, along with a very confused Nohrian soldier. "Geez, you could've made a larger tunnel!"

"I-I was led to believe I'd attack from below and you'd charge." Said Corrin, almost sheepishly.

"Well, don't worry! I don't want to have my…" She glanced at the soldier. "master's brother end up in danger! Don't worry about me, I'm perfectly capable of handling myself! Just pop in and do your thing, and I'll do the same!"

"But… there will be arrows and the mages are slinging spells! It's dangerous!"

"Yep." Said Selena. "And I can handle that, coz you can't kill what you can't catch! Now c'mon, before they figure out a thing! And before the tunnel collapse on us."

Corrin figured out that there was no backing down, though he wondered how the two women in Camilla's group even got along considering their different personalities. Still, he knew better than to just contest her, so he moved in the middle of where his enemies would be. They had put themselves in the center but there were other groups near the edge of the room. Not close enough to get grabbed by their enemy, but still not far enough not to stop them from trying to sneak past. To knock them out, he was going to need to be quick and decisive! He could also reach Sakura quickly but he didn't want her to hold her hostage. It'd be cowardly, after all, and he didn't want to cause her any harm at all. That's why he hurried along, fearing that one of the Faceless would get to her first. They were busy finishing off lesser pockets of resistance, but if they managed to reach her…

"Alrigh, duck!" Corrin leaped through the ground and into the middle of the block, surprising many of his foes thanks to his sudden emergence. Quickly transforming his body so as to include his draconic tail, he spun around to knock a good deal of people off their feet, allowing him to effortlessly knock out most of those. He did aim slightly higher in Sakura's case, not wishing to hurt her, but she and a few other agile people were able to barely duck anyway. The shock didn't quite kill the soldiers, but it knocked them out, meaning that they wouldn't be able to get up so easily anyway. Sakura realized this, quickly looking at the fallen soldier with a look of panic on her face.

"Brother!" She yelled, wishing to see something else but finding herself promptly stopped by a swordmaster on her side. The man stood in front of her, swords raised, and pointed straight at the young man.

"Traitor!" Accused the soldier, before running at Corrin. His sword was a Wyrmslayer, as attested by its shape and the disagreeable feeling that ran over Corrin's body as he merely laid his eyes upon it. Before he could react though, Selena leapt out of her hole and dashed at the soldier with a look of determination in her eyes, easily leaping above his ruthless slash and hitting him in the face with a knee, shattering his nose and taking him down to the ground. Sakura quickly aimed an arrow and fired it, aiming to hit Selena in the shoulder, but the redhead swung her sword effortlessly fast, splitting the projectile in two and letting both halves fly past her. She then landed on the ground, rolled on the ground to avoid a downward smash attack from a particularly strong soldier and, in doing so, rolled between the muscular Hoshidan's legs, getting up behind him and swiftly knocking him out with a direct attack to the elbow. This left Sakura, who was already aiming again, and a onmyoji, a potent magic user, who couldn't quite let loose because of Sakura being currently right next to the enemy. This allowed Selena to once again make an effortless dodge, leaping above Sakura and even putting her hand on the top of her pink head before lashing out with a kick, hitting the man square in the face and knocking him unconscious along with the rest.

Selena's manoeuver distracted Sakura, who took two steps forwards in confusion after being used to support a grown woman in gear. The Nohrian used this manoeuver to swiftly grab her sword and cut the tails on Sakura's quiver, disabling the arrows ad preventing her from launching more projectile. Just to be sure though, Selena swung her arm, twirled the sword a bit to get into a stabbing position and stabbed at the bow itself, severing its cord in two. Corrin sighed in the distance, having been very worried at Selena drawing her sword at his sister. Sakura, surprised by the sheer swiftness of the attack, vainly tried to reach for her arrows and then her bow before realizing that they were both destroyed. Her arms fell and she stepped backwards, visibly terrified. And who wouldn't be? Selena had just effortlessly defeated her and about three soldiers who must have been quite talented, at blinding speed, while holding back without a doubt. Corrin himself could barely believe what he saw, even with his superior reflexes. Weird as Camilla was, he couldn't deny that she could pick good retainers. Both Selena and Beruka were warriors on the level of the very people that they protected.

"Amazing, Selena! You're really strong!" Selena looked up and closed her eyes with a small smirk, basking in the moment before looking down at Sakura, sheathing her sword. The Nohrians on the edge were too surprised by what had just happened to really intervene yet, but a few were already swarming to capture weakened Hoshidan prisoners.

"Alright, princess. You've lost!" Said Selena, putting her hands on her hips and towering over Sakura. "You're going to come with us nicely and surrender. That way, there won't be any victims! Got it?"

Sakura bit her lips and walked back slightly, still grasping her bow. She glanced at the destruction around her, the dead people at the outer edge, her brother who stood over a defeated Hoshidan… And she made her choice, slowly turning towards Selena. The redhead smiled gently and held her hand out. "We're going to pull you through this mess, alright kid? Just-"

Then, out of a sudden, Sakura grasped her bow and swung it at Selena right in the face, wielding it like a blunt tool. Selena would've easily dodged such a blow in another time, since it was a wide swing, all too easily dodged by her superior reflexes, but her sheer surprise at Sakura's decision caused her to get hit right in the cheek, sending her spinning backwards. While certainly agile, she had still been struck with a blow strong enough to snap the bow in many pieces, and as such, she was almost sent to the ground before she managed to catch herself. Sakura stumbled backwards, holding her ruined weapon in one hand, before Corrin swiftly moved in before anyone else, grabbing Sakura by her long blue collar and holding her up. She immediately moved to deck him with what remained of her weapon, but he simply failed to budge, even as the weapon shattered to pieces. Looking more closely at her, she was wearing something akin to Mikoto's royal dress, and Corrin's hand shook a little at the sight, though he didn't let go. Sakura, for her part, seemed to be saddened at the sight of her brother, and stopped struggling after striking at him, even briefly putting her hand on her face after realizing what she did. "B-big broth… ah, I guess it's useless, you know now, right?"

"It's alright, Sakura." Said Corrin, trying his best to keep a gentle tone. "Do you surrender? There's been enough deaths and mayhem."

Sakura took a quick look and sighed sadly. "I surrender." She said, though she sounded as if speaking those words was difficult to her. Corrin nodded and his other hand rose as he shaped it into a larger form. "HOSHIDANS! YOUR PRINCESS HAS SURRENDERED! DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND NO HARM SHALL BE DONE TO YOU!"

The Faceless stopped, and whatever Hoshidans who were still up and active dropped their weapons, with the exception of a few stubborn soldiers who had to be put down elsewhere. However, Sakura acted up. "Wait!" She said. "We can't let the soldiers enter the tower! There are wounded civilians and soldiers inside!"

Corrin almost thought that this was a trap, and was almost tempted to call out Sakura in case she lied, but he did remember Xander and the others mentioning that it had civilians. He nodded and put her down, though he kept a firm hand on her shoulder just in case. "I'll accompany you to the tower, and we'll see what to do. Are you hurt?"

"N-no…" She said. Corrin nodded and glanced at Selena, holding his hand up. "Are you okay?"

"I just got whacked in the face with a bow." Said Selena, holding unto a bruise on her face and smiling sarcastically. "So yeah, I'm very fine!"

"Nice to hear, you're a toughie, Selena!"

"I-I'm joking, dummy!" She said. "But it's fine." She lowered her hand, revealing that while she had a bruise, it wasn't too bad. "Huh, don't tell Beruka that I gained it because of this, right? I just… I don't know, gawd. I'm gonna search a doctor while you search your story."

"Alright, erm, take care! I'll find you a epic story!"

"Yeah, you better!" Whispered Selena, and she was off, moving as if she had just lost a limb, and not gotten a bruise. Sakura looked at her with a concerned look, but didn't offer to heal her, aware that the prideful Nohrian wouldn't accept to get pitied or healed by a captured foe. Corrin smiled slightly though, amused at Selena's insistence. However, he still had a bit of an issue.

"Let's go." He said, and they began to walk. Plenty of soldiers stared at them as they walked, some were confused, others were simply proud to know that they caught a royal and a few dared to jeer at her, only to back off when an angered Corrin glared at them, wisely realizing that they were angering the prince. "But… I surrendered." She said. "When the invasion started, Ryoma gathered us all and told us… never give up in front of the enemy. If there remain a single stone, then we have to defend it with all our might. And I… I did it, I surrendered." She sadly shook her head. "I've been caught and I gave up…"

Corrin wondered why Ryoma would give such an order to Sakura as well. Had the war taken such a toll on him? Unlike the others, she wasn't really used to the horror of conflict after all, and her presence at Jinya, a fort that was about to fall… The youth's stomach churned. "You do not need to blame yourself, now, the wounded will be healed and there won't be any more deaths here. Ryoma wanted you to take the decision of a warrior, but you took the decision of a leader." He said to his younger "sister". "Don't ever feel bad for taking such a decision."

"… Heh." Sakura smiled, but bitterly. "Thank you…"

"What are you even doing here though, Sakura? This place wasn't meant to held strong, why would Ryoma send you?"

"O-oh, he didn't send me! I knew there would be troubles here, so I… I kind of snuck away with my retainers to try to help. I'd heal the wounded and then I'd go." She nodded. "And I'd take the healed civilians while the recovered soldiers would add to the defenses. T-that was what I wanted to do, but then you and the Nohrians emerged out of the Infinite Stairway so much faster than we thought possible. You were supposed to take at least a few hours, just enough to properly get the people out but… but you had crossed it so fast! Yukimura never accounted for that." She sadly shook her head. "And those monsters too… I… I wanted to just offer a defense that would be too durable to be pierced by Nohr, but those monsters really interrupted things."

"Yeah…" Corrin pondered a little. Hoshido didn't know about this? Their ninja network had allowed them to effectively spy on their foes before, and until the Faceless, Hoshido was always quick to disable a Nohrian attempt at breaking past Mikoto's barrier. Even during the war, information being leaked was a threat and Hoshido rarely had propositions get past it.

For the intelligent Faceless to be a surprise… It was probably kept really really well. Even Xander didn't know about it and the prince was obviously never kept privy to such confidential matters. For them to be deployed too, and successfully sneak across an entire country… Iago had surpassed himself it seemed.

"… What is Yukimura doing here though? Isn't he the head tactician? He shouldn't be out there fighting in Jinya right?"

"Y-yeah… Well, a lot of things happened to him between your departure and now, and he… I don't think the elders like him much anymore." She grimaced. "I don't really know though, it's… it's a lot of politics done behind the back, you mean? I found him here and he just said that he was about to leave too until you surprised him. Erm, regardless, what are you going to do with us? Big brother said that Garon has ordered all of Hoshido to…"

"We're not doing that, ever." Said Corrin. "The wounded in the fort or the tower will be treated and the prisoners will be treated humanely. I won't allow Garon to trample over Hoshido, and everyone in the army has decided to do so. Of course, we'll still have to take part in the war and…" He glanced at some bodies. "… But Hoshido won't be sacked and destroyed outright."

"I'm… I'm glad to hear." She said, a little doubtful. "It's nice to know that you're not a bloodthirsty Nohrian. I… I was a bit scared by Takumi's stories, and how he described you as someone who broke his arm." Sakura clenched her torso while making herself smaller, so as to avoid soldiers. Meanwhile, they reached the black gate leading to the tower. It was gargantuan in size, easily big enough to have an army pass through it, though at the same time, it was so durable that said army wouldn't be able to bust it open, as attested by the way spells bounced off it harmlessly.

"Wait!" Corrin held his hand out and Tello, who was leading the charge, glanced at him. He had to somewhat admire the general's work ethic, since he was right back to giving orders after the tough battle. "There are civilians inside."

"And a bunch of soldiers." Explained Tello. "And we need it to hoist the flag… But don't worry, I'm not looking to raid the place." The bald man jammed his thumb over his shoulder, pointing at some spells. "I'm just going to open the door to fully conquer the fort, and besides, we really need the medical equipement stored inside after that fight… But I won't harm any of the civilians inside." The general held his hand out." "However, I do need some soldiers to neutralize any hostiles still inside. Some Hoshidans don't give up so easily, after all… But we're not killing them unless we absolutely have to." Then, his eyes settled to Sakura. "Heh? When you all said that Princess Sakura was in the fort, I thought I was having a prank pulled on me. What are you doing here, little girl?"

Sakura frowned in answer, and Corrin was reminded that he was kind of an exception. "D-don't call me a little girl!" She asserted. Takumi had rubbed off on her, though to a thankfully limited extent. "I'm… I was here to bring aid to the wounded, and I wasn't supposed to be caught." The princess glared at the mages. "I know that you want to get in, but please, allow me to convince the soldiers inside. If you try to bust it open, you'll just get them to go aggressive!"

Corrin nodded silently. While he understood why Tello would like to access the fort, busting the door open would only cause another massacre, and the loss of yet more lives after they managed to get through that huge fight. "I understand your concern, Tello, but we could have Sakura convince the. It should be fine as long as we keep her away from the door."

"Hm…" Tello looked at Sakura and nodded. "Alright, do your best so we don't end up with another bloodbath." He admitted. "I'm going to need to dig a lot of graves, better not add a few more."

"Erm… thank you." Sakura smiled, a little uncertain. Then, she looked at the door and knocked on it before standing back, just in case someone tried to open it and snatch her. Corrin kept himself close to her though, so as not to have her run off of all of a sudden.

"Lady Sakura!" a small slit opened in the door, but they couldn't see an eye beneath. "Those brutes have captured you?! Rah, this is why I told you to stick with me! Hang on!" To Corrin and the Nohrians's surprise, the plucky woman behind the door almost opened it before being pulled away by her fellow Hoshidans, though they could only hear the sound of the struggle. Corrin glanced at Sakura, who blushed in shame.

"Hana is… a very nice and competent retainer but she can be a bit… excited, heh-heh." Sakura scratched the back of her head and chuckled a little, before quickly looking away in embarrassment. Finally, another voice emerged. "Lady Sakura? What are these monsters offering?"

"N-not monsters, calm down. They… they are saying that they want to get in, but only to get proper access to the medical equipement, and they promise… they promise not to kill the people inside."

"Have they gotten bored of killing everyone outside?" Answered the voice. Sakura panicked a little.

"T-they haven't! The wounded are being treated, I've seen it! Corrin is not lying!" Her hands shook a little. "I know… I know that it stings, but they're not evil Nohrians. Please, I can swear that Corrin will not let anything happen to us!"

The man behind hesitated a little, and Corrin heard a hand moving to open the door before Kaze burst into the scene, landing right besides Corrin. "Milord!" He said. "Apologies for bursting in, but there is something urgent happening!" Kaze looked up, with panic on his face. "Please, put Sakura and the others to safety immediately!"

"Why?" Asked Corrin, a little bit shocked. "What is happening?"

"The dog… the dogs of war are at Jinya's gate!" Kaze's tone was almost frantic, and Corrin's eyes opened widely. "Hans is about to arrive!"

…

**A/N**: Surprise surprise! Lots of action this chapter! I hope you've enjoyed it!

Hans is coming, what will Corrin do? Will he put an end to the massacre as he failed to do in canon? We'll see in five days! I enjoyed making this chapter to be honest, and what's about to happen was something I thought of a lot while making this fic, so I hope you'll enjoy it!

What did you think of the chapter? I do love reviews, I adore getting one for every chapter!

See you later!


	36. The Praxys

He remembers the burning Cheve, and the sight of its innocent civilians being hunted down and killed as if they had been mere animals. He remembers a wicked laughter over all the destruction, and a particular shape amongst the ruins and fire, bringing down his great axe upon the unluckiest citizens especially, just like he remembers the nonchalance in face of all that death and destruction, treating the prince's righteous anger at the atrocities done as if he was merely a teenager throwing a fit.

His mind also flashed back to that bridge, and the manner in which that thug started it all by killing that poor Samurai before ripping his father figure away from him with a cowardly attack upon Gunter. And the numerous taunts ever since then, aware that Garon would shield him away from retribution. A bloodthirsty thug, of no greater mind or reason than the average slum-dwelling criminal, who was somehow thrust into a position of great power within the army, allowing him to freely commit all the heinous deeds he had in mind thanks to the hundred soldiers within his "personal squad" of bloodthirsty killers, thugs and even worse than that.

Hans had been a shame upon Nohr for far too long, and he was at the fort, ready to spite on Corrin's promise. But this time, there would be no more deaths on Corrin's watch. He didn't care about Hans's position, or Garon's approval. If he saw the bald man commit the slightest crime, he was going to grab his sword and put the rabid animal down, here and now, and the false king would be free to whine about that as much as he could without the prince caring in the slightest. He hated that bald freak moreso than he hated his enemies in Hoshido combined, and he was _supposed _to fight against those!

"Keep Sakura away from that animal, Tello! I'll stop him from doing anything too bad!"

"Right!"

Kaze escorted Corrin as he began to run to the gates, and he spoke, but his words didn't register yet. All that mattered was stopping the freak from doing any damage. And to accomplish that, the prince ran with enough speed to neatly surpass the ninja, easily reaching the doors of the fort with such speed that Hans and his thugs, who were stationed in front of the gates, actually seemed surprised when Corrin landed on the floor, producing a light shockwave as his course ended. He moved with such swiftness that Xander and the others, who had been informed as well, and were likely closer to the gate, were actually still on their way.

Corrin said nothing but he glanced behind. A few wounded Hoshidans were already being put to death by the dogs of war, or were dragged away by them in some cases. The nearby Nohrians, like those in charge of healing or the ones who handled the magical cannon, were present but unable to intervene, either because they didn't want to get in the way, or because they knew they wouldn't be able to stop the crazed killers, or simply because they didn't care enough to actually save lives. Corrin winced at this particular sight, though he couldn't help but also notice the uneasiness within some of the men.

"Ah, Lord Corrin! Fantastic work once again!" Hans raised his axe and pointed at some plume of smokes in the fort. "They said that the place was about as mean as my ex-wife." This got some chuckles out of his men. "But you managed to capture it alright! However." Hans lowered his axe and pointed it past Corrin. "Couldn't help but notice that you left some of them alive. Luckily enough, I'm here to ensure that there won't be anyone left by the time His Majesty arrives!"

"We'll have them in jail." Corrin assured. "You're not needed there, Hans, and neither are those thugs. Why don't you go forward to Suzanoh? Or do you want to spend the war leaving the fighting to someone else?" The man almost spat. Hans briefly looked surprised but recovered swiftly enough. He put the axe-holding hand against his hip, while clenching it, and raised a finger, wagging it a little while chuckling. Then, he curled his finger.

"Haha, you've gotten better at talking trash!" Hans smiled, but there was a hint of anger on his face. "But come on, are you going to do it like Cheve? My orders were given by Ganon, and as those big ears of yours must've caught, the order's to ensure that there won't be any eastern trash on this side of the continent." Two thugs of his walked past Hans and started to walk past Corrin at well, holding their blood-stained weapons. "How about you just go and complain to your siblings about it, while my soldiers and I do a man's job?"

Corrin frowned and raised his two hands, catching the soldiers by the throats and lifting them up. Their expression of smug triumph vanished instantly, but the youth couldn't really keep his eyes on them, since he was sending his best glare at Hans. "You and those low-lives are not stepping into Jinya." He threw the two at Hans's feet. "Go cry to my father about it, but I won't budge. And since I've been key to the war thus far, he'll listen to me." Corrin folded his arms. "What have you done since its start, Hans? Killing civilians and wounded soldiers? Why'd he trust you over me?"

Hans snarled a little and almost swung his axe before he realized just who he was speaking to. Calming down, he, too, folded his arms right as the royals arrived, having quickened their pace after seeing Corrin choke the two men. "Lord Xander." He said, recovering his calm to sound like a concerned friend. "I trust that you've witnessed this act of assault done upon my men? Lord Corrin has obviously snapped because of the battle. Why, he even stands against the orders delivered by the King." Said the bald man. "You should get him away from the fort, it is clear that his sympathies for the wrong nation are clouding his judgment." Upon hearing this, the blue-haired prince very nearly moved to choke Hans, but Xander thankfully dissuaded him with a quiet nod.

"That is fine. I, too, stand against my father's orders. There shall be no more needless death today. You and your dogs are encouraged to leave at once and never return." The prince swung his arm dismissively. "Leave at once, now!"

"You too?!" Hans yelled, before he shook his head. "… Ah, my prince, it's dirty work, I know, but I was told by the King himself to do that. And, well, mighty as you are, dear prince, you ain't no king yet." Hans smiled. "So, please, move away so we can start our work. We can have a debate in Lord Garon's presence if you want." And his smile widened. "He's coming here soon."

"Good. Then we'll talk about this with him." Xander didn't react at all to the news. "Return to him and tell him that Jinya has fallen and the surviving soldiers will be taken care of. I have heard my father's orders, but I find genocide to be a contemptible measure, and the captured soldiers will be quite useful in giving us informations."

They would rather not talk about Yukimura or Sakura. It could be used to quickly explain why they'd need to spare them, but Hans wasn't a tactician and at this point, the two men doubted that he'd be stopped by this information. If anything, it'd drive him to try to kill either two, which would be outright catastrophic for Corrin. Things were tense enough as of now.

"Listen, you can argue about all that as long as you want, but I'm here to ensure that Lord Garon won't have to witness those pathetic barbarians dying near him while he's making a speech, so hurry up and stop annoying me!" As he said that, he actually moved to shove his way past both, and Corrin snarled. What point was there in speaking to someone who was deaf to reason? If it weren't for Hans's position, he would have him slaughtered on the spot!

"Alright boys." Hans talked, while the royals glared at him. "The men, you slaughter. The women, you bring them to me." He smiled. "I'll take the prettiest, and you'll take the rest. Whoever gives me the best harlot will get their own chunk of land." He said. "And the opportunity to rise in the ranks of Nohr. So get movin' before they bleed out!"

"Absolutely not!" Xander had his hand on his sword. "You're not touching any of the soldiers present, you damned animal! Desist immediately, least I run you through with my sword!" He said, and he glanced at the rest of the soldiers, causing them to stop. "I will have no difficulty doing this to all of you either!"

"Tsk tsk tsk… Xander, I like ya." He briefly looked down. "I like you, yeah, but don't get in our way. How many times do I need to repeat that these are King-given orders? You and your siblings could protest as much as you want, and it won't matter." He then looked at Xander's swords. "And killing a loyal servant isn't very nice either, you know? The prince killing a fellow Nohrian to save the lives of some Hoshidans is pretty damned close to betrayal, milord, and I don't think Lord Garon look upon this too kindly! Come on!" He raised his arms and sweeped at the wounded, who were very nervously trying to get away. "None of those guys would hesitate to slaughter us if given the chance! Why'd you show mercy to them?"

"Because we are better than this." Xander frowned. "Nohr is the superior nation to Hoshido, and this is precisely why it will not partake in any manner of abuse against defeated foes. We will not allow these men and women to rejoin the war later." He said. "But they will nonetheless be taken care of, because Nohr can do better than this. It has to, or we won't get any different from the Hoshido we despise."

"Winning the war will make us a whole lot different." Hans rolled his eyes. "It's not a matter of being kinder than the other side, or more honorable, it's the matter of winning, and honor get in the way of that. But anyway, I'm in to kill, not to debate. Go cry to your father later." Hans grasped his axe. "He'll care very much. Boys!"

"Hans, I'm challenging you to a Praxys!"

Corrin stood there, finger pointed, and Hans turned around, visibly confused. Xander himself, powerless to prevent Hans from doing anything, looked at Corrin visibly surprised. Camilla's eyes widened in recognition and she pulled herself from her silence to approach. "Wait, you already tried that at Cheve, Corrin!"

"And I'm doing it again, this time." Said Corrin. "Xander, do you accept this?"

Praxys is a complex Nohrian practice. If a Nohrian find himself in disagreement with another, and it is established that diplomacy is powerless, then this is their last-resort. By invoking it, the Nohrian is challenging his countrymate to a duel, where both are expected to fight fairly, one against the other, until one Nohrian is knocked unconscious, surrender or is killed. The winner is assumed to be the one who had the right idea all along, and as a result, his ideology will be seen as the correct one, and the loser's own beliefs will be discarded. This was an all-or-nothing strategy, pretty much, but Praxys itself could only be announced by a soldier or a former soldier, though the soldier could always decide to invoke it on a troublesome civilian if they wanted to.

Praxys was created early in Nohr's existence. The cruel queen, Theodora the Second, was, according to rumors, tired of having philosophers debate at length (though some versions pretend that she was simply tired of seeing generals argue about the correct strategy) and implanted the rule so that the philosophers could challenge each other with fists or swords instead of mere words. It proved pretty popular, though in its original form, it was quite easy to trigger. A mere farmer could declare Praxys, and the other one had no choice but to partake in it. It was her own daughter, the third Theodora, who placed further standards, such as the need for approval from a higher-ranked individual. As an example, a soldier can always challenge another, but it will be up to someone of higher rank in the hierarchy to decide if a fight will actually take place. That way, a responsible commander could prevent their soldiers from killing one another, though some encouraged Praxys and saw it as a good way to weed out weaklings.

However, those were few, and Praxys itself was encouraged to be used only when no other option was available. Even in the age of Garon, no doubt the bloodiest in Nohr, few threw the term around lightly. After all, most Nohrians tended to take it to the death, and few listened when the rules explicitly prevented such. Of course, this wasn't because of concerns over the idea that people could challenge each other for a fight to the death. Rather, people didn't want to be challenged and slain by a subordinate. Nearly anyone could challenge anyone, even the queen (with approval from the king), and the older generals, who could only rely on their wits and experience instead of their rather frail bodies, feared its use against them. Of course, they could always back off, but it would be seen as cowardice. No general would back off in front of other individuals, lest they bring upon them the shame of losing.

Here, Hans was put in that situation. His men were there, and so were Corrin's own soldiers. Refusing would lead Hans to looking weak in front of them, which would obviously reflect badly on him. And for a man who had thrived on being "the toughest, baddest" (to quote him), backing off would be admitting his weakness, something which the man would very much rather not do, especially in front of the prince that he'd often sneer at for being weak. And Xander, as the person of highest authority here, would accept the challenge. After all, it was a good try at disposing of Hans, since they could use it to get him to stand down. A shame that Praxys wouldn't work on Iago, who wasn't prideful enough to accept putting his life on the line, or Garon who, as Nohr's absolute king, was obviously not meant to be defied. Hans had enough pride in him to accept fighting, but until then, Corrin never really got the occasion to challenge him to a duel. After Cheve, they had been separated for a while and it'd be in poor form to beat up a fellow Nohrian before an invasion, right when Garon himself was clamoring for unity between western Dreiz. Who in the world would believe in that upon seeing a high-ranked Nohrian officer and a prince throw down for seemingly no reason?

But right here, right now, he had the argument, someone sympathetic on his side and a yearning to just end Hans on the spot. The only obstacle would be Hans putting his pride aside, but thankfully, he fell into the bait. "Fine, Praxys it is." He said. "I don't get why you really ought to save those Hoshidans, but maybe a few whacks to the skull will dissuade you from thinking that."

"Hold on." Xander stepped between the two. "It is up to me to accept the Praxys, as the King's first son." He glanced at the two duelists and frowned a little before deciding to accept it. They could maybe nail a victory if they showed Hans to be weak in front of his own men. And to be honest, Xander had never trusted the man. He could only hope that Corrin knew what he was doing, since it would be rather awful if the Nohrian prince were to lose to Hans. "I approve of the Praxys, but I shall set some of the terms. The duel is to remain a fair battle between two adversaries. It will take place here. There shall be no intervention from a third party in any way, unless one of the duelists here attempts to cheat. The fight ends when a fighter is knocked out, unable to fight any further or give up. There shall be no attempt upon the life of someone else here as well. Hans, you may set the rules."

"I forbid my opponent from transforming into a dragon." Said Hans. "Or using a dragon vein if any is nearby. He may not use his legendary… swordy thing." He raised a finger to point it at Yato. "Though a weapon may be given to him in return."

"A fair agreement." Xander looked at Corrin. "Do you have any rules to set as well? You may not override Hans's."

"Hans can fight with a weapon." Said the prince, looking down as he started to take Yato's sheath off his belt. Once he was done, he lifted it and glanced at Azura before tossing the sword upwards, with her easily catching it, clearly worried. Corrin wondered where Beruka was, but he thought that he'd ask later. "I will rely on my fists." He stretched his arms and then pressed his knuckles one against the other while walking up. Xander's eyes widened, along with everyone else. Hans's composed expression briefly made way for anger before he composed himself into smirking nastily. Perhaps he imagined that Corrin's refusal to use any weapon at all would play into his hands. Thus, he raised his own axe and spun it.

"I'll hit you with the blunt end, milord." He said, earning himself some laughter from the rest of the crowd. Corrin stared back quietly, even as Xander approached him. "Get a weapon, Corrin." The prince stared at Hans. "He's still a dangerous criminal, and his rank isn't for show. Do you intend to beat a general down with your bare hands?"

"Sure." Said Corrin. "You saw me in action, haven't you?"

"Even then…" Xander contemplated. "… Well, I'll stop anything if you get backed into a corner. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm gonna do just fine, watch me, big brother." Corrin stepped forth confidently, but Xander didn't dare stop him yet, especially since Camilla approached him quickly to put him aside, so that there'd be place for the showdown.

"Don't worry Xander. Corrin is still very much our baby brother but he's grown." Camilla looked at her younger brother as he took a stance. "I've seen his progress through the war, you know? And he's miles ahead of his level at the beginning of it, and I can assure you that it was already quite high!"

"Aren't you worried though? Hans is a brutal general."

"Well, worst come to worst, we'll stop it, but I believe in Corrin." She said. "He'll beat that jerk before he can even realize it!"

Hans looked to the side and grunted, displeased at being so thoroughly underestimated by the royals. Corrin was the very picture of serenity in contrast, calmly staring ahead at his foe and not dropping out of his guard. To his credit, Hans didn't rush in initially, and simply tried to gauge for an opening. Asking the brute to hit someone without killing them was most unusual for him, but perhaps he knew that Corrin could take it? Either way, he decided not to peer at a hole in Corrin's defense and attempted to make one, though he was shrewd enough not to run in.

"You think you can take me on without any weapons, my prince? You might be getting a little co-"

"Yes." There was no hesitation in what Corrin said, and he spoke firmly enough to briefly startle the bald brute. The sheer lack of hesitation even in the face of such a taunt angered the brute and he decided to forgo his careful approach to run in, swinging his axe like a bat to try to hit Corrin. Naturally though, the prince was ready and ducked past that quite effortlessly. Hans had expected that. What he didn't expect was that Corrin's fist would dug into his guts with great speed, hitting Hans before he could even begin to compute what had just happened to him. The bald man leaned forward and clutched his stomach, struggling not to reveal the content of what he had today to his crew. Bile escaped from his mouth a little but he held it on well, this left him distracted to Corrin, who was already behind him and chose to strike in his back with a kick, hurling the cruel general to the ground. The shock caused him to land on his stomach, doing him no good at holding it in and finally getting him to vomit.

Time briefly stopped as everyone but the royals tried to understand just what had happened. In the span of a few seconds, Hans had been hit badly twice and throw into the ground, near a puddle of his own vomit. Whispers began to be heard coming out of the entire group, while the other contestant was left to lie on his face, staring flatly at the ground. Then, the stench of what was just right in front of him and the fury of being bested in front of his men caused him to angrily bash the ground with his fists before jumping back to launch a fierce assault with his axe, attempting to bash Corrin with the blunt end of it. To his credit, he wielded it skillfully and proved fast, but clearly not enough to catch up to the youth, who managed to dodge his way past everything thrown at him without quite attacking. However, with every dodge, the axe would threaten to hit more and more, prompting Hans to continue his attack, aware that he'd be able to shut that damned cocky smile of his with a single mighty blow.

Eventually, Corrin had to block instead of dodging, and to Hans's joy, he found it to be difficult. Yes, he repelled the axe with his bare hands, but he winced whenever he had to, and he seemed to be more and more shaken with every encounter. This only drove the general to attack further and further and eventually, he managed to strike, shattering Corrin's defenses and forcing the young man to stagger in surprise as Hans made an upward strike that destabilized the young man! Smelling the triumph, the bald man spun the weapon around and grasped it with two hands before bringing it down with great strength.

"YOU'RE WIDE OPEN!" With this unimaginative line, Hans swung down, and did so with all his strength, actually creating a crater into the ground of the fort with his sheer strength. Gasps of shocks were heard everywhere around him: The general might just have killed a royal with an attack this strong! Even the brute seemed to realize that he went a little far, his smirk of triumph having quickly shifted to an expression of shock. Getting back to position, he slung his axe on his shoulder. "Heh, sorry milord, looks like I went a bit overboard!" He chuckled, staring at the smoke created by his strike. His men chortled after getting over their surprise, and he turned to stare at Xander, smiling proudly. "So, can I do my job now?"

"Not until the Praxys is over." Xander's response caused the tall man to lean his head to the side and he moved to lower his axe… only to realize that he wasn't holding it anymore! In the span of a second, it had vanished from his hand entirely! Panicked, the man wheeled around in time to get struck in the face by the blunt end of the axe. It wouldn't have done much damage, since his enemy was holding the axe up instead of doing anything with it, but in his panic, Hans had wheeled around too fast, causing his nose to crash violently against the steel. This caused some further pain to the general, as well as some humiliation because of the rather comical reason behind his latest injury. As he held on his bleeding nose, Hans heard some laughter coming his way. Laughter from some generic soldiers who would've never even dared to do so in any other circumstance, but also laughter from Camilla and Leo, his own men and, most of all, most irritatingly, Corrin, who had stolen his axe.

"You sure look silly Hans." He said. To the terror of the general, he was rather unscathed, having used the prodigious speed that allowed him to casually steal that axe to move out of the way of the move. As for the weapon itself, he was carefully holding it up with one arm. "What kind of story are you going to find to describe that one?" With a simple gesture, he threw the axe at Hans, who caught it in mid-air. "Here."

"You little _fuck!" _Hans put particular emphasis on the latter part, and Corrin leaned to the side, putting his hands on his hips.

"Where's the respect, Hans? You know, if I were a prince of lesser compassion, I could kill you for this." He waged his finger. "Luckily for you, I'm only out to violently humiliate you." Corrin smiled, and Xander frowned slightly at the slight hint of malice in Corrin's face. The boy had never been out to intentionally put down anyone, even when he hated them. He had been conflicted about hurting Takumi, someone who had tried to kill him three times by now, and had just fought hard to save the lives of the people of Hoshido. Against Hans though, he was displaying none of his usual traits, though that could be reasoned as Hans being particularly despicable.

In other circumstances, Xander would've called off the Praxys. There wasn't any way for Hans to win, and he didn't want for his brother to sully his soul by resorting to petty humiliations. But it was a good opportunity to show the strength of their conviction by having Hans, the result of years of Nohrian suffering in the slums, be completely outmatched by Corrin, a kind prince who wanted to change Nohr for the better. Their soldiers would realize that their leaders definitely aren't weak, and Hans's dogs of war would learn that they follow a path that, while brutal, is definitely weaker than it look.

Well, that and he didn't like Hans, and wasn't about to pass on a chance to have the bald man be given his just desserts. He'd stop if Hans asked, to be fair, but the leader of the ruthless Nohrian squad was definitely too enraged to just back off. "You little shit! You're lucky I'm holding back while you're going all out!" His arms trembled in rage and multiple large veins emerged all over his face. The blood and bile streaming down from his lips added to the effect instead of taking away from it.

The young man's face turned dead serious. "… You think I'm going all out?" Corrin asked. As if to demonstrate his point, he immediately ran ahead and struck Hans twice. One time in the chest, shattering the armor, and the other time, with less force, on the face. Both blows sent Hans skidding backwards but he used the momentum to spin around and lash out at the rushing Corrin directly, using the sharper end of the axe this time. The dragon prince saw this though, and instead of dodging, he raised his hand and neatly caught the blade between his fingers, stopping it dead-on. Hans gasped in shock: Even if the blows had weakened him, in no world did he imagined that anyone could so casually stop his attack.

The general did his best to try to wrench the weapon free, but all his might apparently met its match in Corrin's grasp. By now, the spectators had gone silent, and Corrin's demeanor was still intense. "You realize that this is what your victims felt like, don't you Hans? Did you ever stop to think about that? How they felt when you and those barbarians of yours attacked them? How they were helpless and unable to do anything to stop you two?"

Hans frowned. "I don't give a shit about what they thought!" He kept trying to break free. "They were weak! Beaten! And no one gives a crap about the weak in Nohr!" As he spoke though, he didn't notice that Corrin's grip was slowly growing stronger and stronger. "And none of what you're going to say will change my mind! I don't care about their suffering one bit, and I'll never stop!" The bald man tried to pull away in one last effort. "So get lost!"

Corrin's fingers tore through the cracked metal, shattering Hans's great axe. The man shut himself off in the middle of his own speech, thoroughly stunned by what he saw, and the youth snarled. "I'm not going to change your mind." He said. "But you're going to know what it feels to be weak."

The dragon moved too fast for Hans to react once again, and struck him directly into the chest. "That's for Gunter!" He yelled, as Hans took two steps backwards in pain. Immediately, he was struck multiple times over the face, covering it in bruises. "And that's for those Hoshidans at the canyon!" Hans fell, but Corrin wasn't satisfied. He grabbed the man's left and swung him overhead to bash him to the ground, causing Hans's back to painfully meet the stone that made up the ground. The man spat out blood but Corrin hardly cared, battering away with kicks. "For Cheve! For Rigeaux!"

Hans vaguely tried to defend himself with his arm but he was still more bruises than an actual man. And Corrin heard something in said arm snap when he moved to swing the limb out of the way with his hand , not that he cared, since he immediately put his hand on the man's throat. The thug's expression was one of pure shock and horror (though one would need to pay attention because of his damaged his head was), and by now familiar voices were telling him to stop. Yet again, Corrin didn't bother registering it.

"I sur-" Hans's words were blocked out before he could speak, and Corrin began to apply pressure on his throat. A small part of him should've felt horrified at what he was doing, but he wasn't. His entire being wholeheartedly approved of the bald man's demise. He remembered the flames of Cheves, the ambush on Gunter, the way he tracked some of the singers in Cyrkensia… Everything was coming to an end. He kept applying pressure to Hans's throat, and watched his hated foe's slow agony.

"That's how it feels, Hans, to be the weaker one!" Corrin's voice turned frantic. "That's how it feels to be stuck against someone who has absolutely no mercy! That's how it feels to be at the wrong end of that philosophy that you so eagerly embrace!" He kept choking, his red eyes watching the life drain from that lifeless husk, and the voices resonated more and more with each passing second.

"_Kill him! Slaughter him! Pull him apart! Break his bones! Crack his head open!" _Chanted a voice deep inside Corrin. But another voice made itself heard soon, when he felt a pressure on the shoulder. Corrin whipped around, ready to question his interlocutor, and just barely managed to stop himself from yelling in anger when he noticed Xander, his expression stern. In the background, everyone else was either shocked or similarly stern, Elise was about the only one who seemed to be different from the others in that she was thoroughly horrified, clinging unto Azura's leg and staring at her brother in a fearful manner.

"Let go of Hans." Xander's voice was devoid of the usual warmth he reserved for Corrin. "Now." The voices ended up drowned out nigh-instantly, and the prince stared at Hans, noticing how badly battered the man was. Yelping a little in fright, he let go of the bald man, letting the bald man fall to the ground in a heap, and looked at his bloodstained hands. The horrified prince gasped before putting his hands close to his body, treating them as if they were about to explode if he held them too far out from his chest. Hans, meanwhile, was a sorry mess. His armor had been shattered thoroughly by now to reveal intense wounds over his body, and blood was leaking down from his mouth and into his chest. His breathing was ragged and painful, owing to the large red marks over his throat, and he could barely even begin to pull himself together. To his credit, he was tough enough to actually sit upright, but he looked absolutely terrified.

"You… you freak! I knew it!" He coughed harshly and spat something on the ground. "When… when you showed those weird dragon limbs on the bridge, I knew it! You're a dragon freak!" He began to crawl backwards. "He's going to snap and kill us all eventually! He's more dangerous to us than Hoshido!"

"Stop it, Hans." Asked Corrin, a bit overwhelmed. The guilt of what he had done was firmly grasping him, as attested by the whispers all around him, all of whom he could hear even with his current distractions. But even worse than the whispers were all the stares of horror or shock from his own soldiers or even siblings, none of whom even dared to look at him in the eyes. Even Xander could only briefly support his sight before he sighed and looked down at the ground, shaking his head.

It was supposed to be his moment of triumph, but yet Corrin hardly felt anything but… emptiness. He had imagined that his defeat of Hans would be a triumph, a moment where he'd actually show to everyone that his way to peace was not weak and could stand up to whoever would attempt to upset it… But what had he done but merely show himself as the bigger dog? He was as brutal, if not moreso, than those that came before him. That was the big moment for Xander"s "faction", and he had messed it all up. Azura immediately approached and gave his weapon back to him, though she stepped close to whisper a quick "what was that, Corrin?"

"No idea…" He said, though he knew. He knew it was his deeper nature, but who was he going to admit that to? "I-"

"What in the holy name of Theodora the Fifth is happening here?" Before Corrin could even start to say what he meant to say, another voice piped in, interrupting everyone. Iago, the dreaded tactician of Nohr, was standing still. It'd be impossible to identify him as a magical hologram if he didn't occasionally "leak" some flames on his hair or helmet, but he looked very solid nonetheless, indicating that he was close. After all, Iago's projection spell depended on the location. If he was far, then he couldn't do much besides walking and even then anything else but a brisk short walk would damage the connection. Were he closer though, he could easily walk around and, at the cost of harming the connection, channel spells outright. Of course, maintaining the hologram enough cost a lot of magic, and there hadn't been a tome for it, meaning that only a potent wizard could even hope to channel the spell for a second. "A wounded general and a stricken prince? Just what has happened here? Explain yourselves quickly lest you answer to the King himself."

"A Praxys has just taken place, Iago, but the matter behind it will need to be brought to the King himself. You may report that to him." Said Leo. Iago glanced at the fort and narrowed his eyes at the sight of Hoshidan prisoners of war being put on their feet to be escorted away.

"Oh? Are my eyes playing trick on me? Some of the Hoshidans here are still breathing." He said. "I thought that their annihilation was requested by the King himself."

"Indeed, but these soldiers are meant to be carried away to be interrogated. They will be executed later on by my hands." Said Leo. "After giving away key informations, of course. As we wander towards the capital, there will be only more traps, and being made aware of them will allow us to begin the final phase of this war with more soldiers at our side."

"Hm… We were not equipped with the means to hold them, but you could always turn their prisons against them." Iago said, reasonably enough. Leo sighed in relief, having dodged an arrow. "Nonetheless, while I must praise you for conquering Jinya, I still want to know what manner of harm has befallen Hans. You speak of Praxys, and yet the man look like he had been caught in a earthquake!" He pointed an accusing finger at Hans, and smiled smugly. "Though perhaps it actually help his appearance."

"That… that thing fucked me up because I wanted to do my job! Look!" He pointed at his throat and general bruises, to which Iago threw a flat look at first.

"I can see your injuries, you idiot." He then frowned. "But those are grave injuries, indeed… Corrin, what say you in your defense? Using Praxys to hurt a fellow Nohrian is something that I didn't expect you to do. Are you perhaps not the little angels we all thought you were?" He kept that sarcastic smile and glanced to the side when Leo stepped in. "Does that explain your shocked attitude, perhaps? Ah, you never believed that he could be this savage, hm? Well, I'm not surprised, do you remember the manner in which that boy slaughtered those poor, poor dancers? And the countless Hoshidan deaths at his hands! Ah, I always knew that he was a brute."

"Shut up!" Corrin answered, with a hoarse voice. Iago actually glanced at Corrin in surprise, somehow not thinking that the youth would defend itself, and he smiled nastily.

"How hostile, Lord Corrin. I'm beginning to think that you might hate us poor Nohrians. I was led to believe that your ruthless slayings of Hoshidans would extinguish any love towards them, but it seems that I was wrong." He was clearly enjoying his little show of dominance. "What have we done to you to get such slight thrown at us? We are only humble servants."

Azura placed her hand close to Corrin's mouth and nodded. "Corrin wanted to interrogate the captured Hoshidans, but Hans expressed a desire to kill them all. Praxys was invoked because their differences were impossible to reconcile and-"

"Either way, one does not bruise a high-ranking officer and get away with it. You will have to answer for what happened when the King arrives… Meaning at any minutes now, and I shall be there as well, of course." The hologram shut off, and the Nohrians were left with a bruised Hans. Corrin was almost crying. Almost because he didn't want to show off any more weakness than he already had. Being outright insulted like that over and over again by Iago… He would've been able to rise above that, or fire back perhaps. But he felt too drained to defend himself this time, bar a rather awkward attempt at asking the great general what he meant. Xander looked down at Elise.

"Elise, if you please…"

…

Garon's arrival was relatively low-key considering his stature. He had arrived surrounded by elite Nohrians and Iago himself, but was riding a mere steed instead of a greater vehicle. Though the steed in question was unnaturally tall and wrapped in armor, to the point where even its head was protected, leaving two small holes for the eyes and the nose. Even the hooves were wrapped in some manner of metal. No rider would inflict such a fate to their horse, and no horse would even accept it, but Garon's noble animal showed no protest. It didn't even move a single muscle when it had arrived, staring unflinchingly at the horizon without even once tilting its head or daring to throw a look somewhere else, like a statue.

"Father." The royals, Tello and Hans, lined up side to side, bowed in front of their King, and so did most of the army gathered in the fort, though a fair few were currently away to prevent the Hoshidans, locked in their underground cells, from leaving, though a few were also at the tower. Seemingly, Sakura had succeeded in convincing her troops to surrender, which greatly helped everyone along. Kaze had been sent along for the former, to watch over them along with other Nohrians.

The corpse had been cleaned up but Garon had arrived so fast that no effort could fully remove the bodies. However, the dogs of war had decided to string up some massacred bodies at the gates, showing some impressive speed in doing so. Magic had been used to destroy the Hoshidan bodies that weren't seized by the dogs of war, while the Nohrian corpses were being carted away to be brought back to the homeland. The destruction was still present but at least the fires had been put out and the front of the fort was cleaned up, even if the rest was a mess. The member of the King's shadow that had been deployed was present, observing the scene near their king, arms folded. Corrin glanced at the masked person in surprise, wondering where they had been all this time but figuring out that he wouldn't be able to ask anyway.

Garon admired the fort, and threw an especially appreciative look the way of the corpses, though he seemed disinterested in anything else. A familiar smile appeared on his face. "My children." He said, with some warmth in his voice. "You have done it. You've accomplished something that had only been done twice over the course of Hoshido's wicked existence on this continent. You have taken Jinya and secured a path towards the capital." He grinned wickedly. "And you will certainly outdo yourselves again by taking Suzanoh's wall, our final obstacle, and the barrier that no other army had ever managed to break through."

"It is with great honor that I bestow this fortress upon you, father." Said Xander. "May its fall announce to Hoshido that Nohr's advance is ineluctable, and may the cowering old fools who rule over it realize that their time had come to an end at last."

Garon chuckled eerily. "Now you're getting into it… Good." Garon got off his horse and walked forward, judging everyone. "You've done us a great favor. Within about two months, we will we be on our way to Windmire, where our dear citizens will be covering us in riches for our immense triumph. Soon, the plight of our subjects will come to an end, and Hoshido's resources will be available to us." He clenched his fist. "You've also managed to do so with somewhat limited losses, but I guess I must owe it to those Faceless I sent your way."

"Yes, father, I do thank you for the arrival. Had it not been for them, we should perhaps still be fighting… But what are they, may I ask?"

"The culmination of years of development, that's why." Iago folded his arms and stared at one of his abominations. Ever since the fight ended, they've been standing aside. He began to speak again but Garon glared, and he decided to shut up.

"As Iago said, even though he has no business speaking in the place of his king, those beasts are indeed Faceless, but enhanced. They have the speed, strength and resistance of the average Faceless but are also bestowed with an intellect that allows them to easily take orders and acknowledge the sides they fight for. The former Faceless are now useless antiquities, so we unleashed them across the region so that they may as well level a fort or kill some cowering Hoshidans." Garon spoke dismissively at the latter part. "There's a few of them but our wizards back home will soon be making more. They will be handling the territory once it has been conquered." Said the King. "And ensuring that order is preserved. That way, the soldiers will return home instead of having to educate some low-lives on what to do."

"I see… They were most useful." Xander seemed a little doubtful. "We shall be on our way. Will we be traveling together, father?"

"No." Garon spoke. "Unfortunately, not all squads were as successful as you are. While the forts fell, or are in the process of falling as we speak, some of the squads were outright decimated, though those include our weaker, less experimented neighbors from the west. I will be joining a nearby Nohrian squad that was hit rather harshly, so as to attend to my subjects and ensure that at least two holes will be blown through that wall." He said. "Better not put all our eggs in one basket, wouldn't you agree?" He smiled agreeably to his children, and lost that smile instantly when he gestured at Iago.

"The squads will be regrouping to make up for their losses, but your next assignment will take you to the Wall of Suzanoh. I'll tell you more once you get closer to it." He said, quickly. "But shouldn't there be one issue to deal with, my lord?"

"Hm? What issue would there be? Ah yes." Garon glanced at Hans and Corrin. "My boy." He spoke. "Have you defied my general, Hans, into a Praxys where he ended up heavily wounded?" His voice was harsh, and his eyes were fixated on Corrin, who felt as if the ground was about to shatter underneath him to toss him into some void. "Speak." He ordered, noticing the boy's lack of a reply.

"… Yes." Said Corrin. "I defied Hans to a duel, and I battered him badly. I wounded a fellow Nohrian and I am ready to pay the price for it." His answer was out of a script, he did right as Leo asked him, even the part where he looked up with pleading eyes. Garon waited, and then his usual stoic face broke into what only could be described as an insane grin.

"Good!" He said. "Good! I was anxious about that! You are truly becoming one of us, Corrin!" Garon raised his axe as Hans managed to let out a strangled gasp. "Who cares if Hans acted on my orders? You, and the others here, are my children. You are the royal family of Nohr, blessed with mythic blood. If someone displeases you, then feel free to punish them for it!" The King smiled. "You didn't need to invoke Praxys to batter Hans! If you ever feel slighted, then impose your will with your bare hands! The laws of this land do not bind you!"

"My king?" Asked Iago, surprised at the outburst.

"You are fully forgiven for striking Hans." Said Garon. "And in the future, should you strike a Nohrian who defied you, then feel no guilt over the fact. We are not like the rest of them, after all." Said Garon. "We built this land. Who are they to talk back to us? Xander, Elise, Camilla, Leo, Azura, I do hope that you will also apply this kind of behavior in your future diplomatic dealings. Fear is what keep people in line." He clenched his fist once more. "Wasn't that proven when I slaughtered those nobles in Forlorn? And won't that be proven once Hoshido's spirit break upon our onslaught? Hans! For daring to talk back to Corrin in the first place, you will join me in fighting the Hoshidans, and I except to see good results!"

Hans stammered in utter surprise and most of the royals hardly fared better. Corrin was surprised but actually reasonably happy at the thought… Well, it was terrible that Garon justified it like this, and he knew it was wrong to enjoy it, but not being punished for rightfully stopping the maniac was still sweet. And besides, a tiny part of him looked forward to being respected, for once, instead of either coddled or dismissed. However, he hide his satisfaction well and got up. "I am pleased to-"

"But… Corrin, this brutality that you've shown against Hans should also be let loose on the Hoshidans." Garon glared, and Corrin got back on his knees without realizing it. "Why aren't the Hoshidans dead? I thought I had ordered their execution before your depart to Hoshido."

"Fath-" Xander was cut off when Garon swiftly put his hand up and shook his head. "No." Garon said. "If your sibling is man enough to beat down Hans himself for speaking up to him, he is man enough to speak for himself."

Corrin bite his lips, and tried to go for a pragmatic approach. "Well… We mean to interrogate them, father. They will give us the informations and will be disposed of, as we said."

"Oh, is that so?" The smile came back on, and Corrin stared at it intently. How had he even thought Garon was human? The way his jaw just stretched a little, the wide unblinking look in his grey eyes, the subtle echo beneath his words… Garon had been a monster from the start, and they were all too foolish to realize it. He'd draw his sword to try to cut his arm off, and let other see what he truly was, but he'd be stopped immediately before he could do so, and Garon could still fend him off with ease at his current level. "Bring them up."

"W-what?"

"Bring them up." Garon jammed upwards with his thumb. "Interrogating all of them will take you far too long, my son, but you make a good point. Who knows what kind of deadly traps lay beneath their soil? But we should not lose our time and interrogate too much of time as we are winning."

"Correct, so we will…"

"_You_." Garon emphasized before pointing at Corrin. "You will pick the survivors, and the rest of them will die by Nohrian blades at this very hour." Said Garon. "Effective immediately."

...

**A/N: **Oh we're sticking to Jinya a little longer but we're out next time, promises! Anyway, here's a rather big change from canon! Corrin doesn't quite let Hans walk all over him, but while he let Garon do the same? We'll see!  
Beruka is absent here, sadly, but she's going to have a big role up ahead. And besides, she had two to three chapters on her own didn't she? I can promise that she and Corrin are gonna get into hell of a scene after this.  
What did you think of the chapter and the fight? I love reviews, they help me out a lot!

See ya guys later!


	37. Betrayal

The Hoshidans who had been gathered there weren't any different from the Nohrians that they had fought. They had certainly led different lives, and perhaps not all of them were good people, but they had dreams, they had families of their own and they were fighting against a threat that, for all they knew, was out to completely annihilate their proud nation, burn down their culture and ensure the eradication of their race. They weren't simple faceless mooks who thought of simply killing Nohrians, to put it plainly. Each of the hundred people that had been gathered in the court had someone waiting for them at home, or had made their goodbye to them at the very least.

They were all going to die in the very hour. And only five could be saved and end up grasped away from the jaw of death. And the person who had to make that choice was none other than Corrin. Sakura, Yukimura and the others hadn't been put in front of the group for some reason, despite their prestigious ranks, but Garon had prevented Corrin from taking in anything more than an initial look. He could hear them though, but he was forbidden from opening his eyes, and Garon was standing near him to ensure that he wouldn't try anything.

"What's the reason behind this?! I was led to believe that Nohr would take us all prisoners! Let us go at once!" Yelled Yukimura, having recovered from his fierce battle (and healed, apparently). He struggled, as if trying to break free, but a nearby soldier decided that she has had enough and approached the tactician before punching him in the mouth, throwing the man to the ground. Xander approached quickly and then grabbed the woman by the shoulder so as to pull her away.

"Soldier!" He said. "Do not act unbefitting of your rank!"

"Apologies, milord! But that bastard." She almost spat but then remembered who she was talking to and decided to forgo that. "That bastard killed my friends at Macarath, and so many of my countrymen as well!" The woman pointed. "And yet he dare to criticize us for having mercy?"

"Your wrath towards Yukimura is shared by all of us Nohrians, but pointless violence such as this will not help." Xander said, watching Yukimura recovers. He was still wondering why the tactician would get himself in such a complicated situation. Had something happened between him and other high-ranked members of the country of the dawn? Either way, he had the soldier go back to her ranks but was approached by Iago.

"Funny how the grand general of Hoshido is reduced to being so easily touched by a mere soldier." He threw a fairly unintimidating-like laugh at Yukimura's way. "At the very least, I want to make it clear to you that you'll probably be spared, but you probably would rather kill yourself in some complicated ritual, am I right? Instead of seeing your country burn." The powerful dark mage put his hands behind his back. "You may find a new purpose as a slave though. That may seems disgraceful, but I can guarantee that after spending a few months in our prison, you'll find a slave's live to be more confortable."

"Hoshido will not fall!" Said Yukimura. "Especially if the invasion is carried by one as short-sighted as you. Tell me, Iago, how far would you be in if it weren't for those royals of yours? How well are your other units holding up?" It was Yukimura's time to shine. "How does it feel to have to put your trust in the people who hate you and who will certainly strive to remove you from power once they've secured their position? Had it not been for them, Goemon's trap would have been the end of the invasion." He said, bitterly. "But instead, the conquest of Hoshido will be put on your mediocre tactical skills, when it was carried out by the raw power of those princes and princesses." The tactician glared harshly at Xander. "But for all their power, they were too weak to refuse Garon's orders of annihilation! Behold Nohr's pride! The broken children of petty low-lives and mere concubines! Behold those who would ruthlessly murder their own siblings for power, yet refuse to stand up to their genocidal father!"

Xander frowned but ultimately walked away with as much dignity as he could muster, and Iago followed suit. "I wasn't told that the great tactician was here, and he's brought a princess with her. Why haven't you told us?"

"…. In the past, ninjas have been able to assume false identities. I was assuming that those were fakes." He glanced backwards. "And the real Yukimura and Sakura would then act later, after we've been convinced of their absence. After all, why would Yukimura be present in this place?"

"… Hrmph, that is a good enough excuse." He said. "But I wonder if they'll be saved by our dear Corrin. He has only a limited amount of people to save, doesn't he? The poor thing… Very eager to beat down on a fellow Nohrian for following orders, yet desperate to save a bunch of Hoshidans who would have all of us burned on the pyre. Isn't that wonderful, my prince?"

"Corrin has snatched victory away from the jaws of defeat many times by now. He will make his decision. Now, begone." Xander waved his hand away. "And return to my father. I've heard that his boots need some cleaning."

Iago did so, but only because that brought him closer to Corrin. The eminent mage threw a side-glance at Xander and joined up with his king. "My king, we are done with the preparations. If I may have one idea to propose." Garon coldly glared in his direction. "We… We could tell Corrin to pick only one person between Yukimura and Sakura. After all, it would be all too easy to know who he'll save." Corrin heard this of course, and turned at Iago to say something. However, a heavy hand set on his head and Garon took over. "You would want to have only one be spared between Yukimura or Sakura, you say?"

"Yes. That way, it will be harder for our dear prince to decide who live. If the choice…" Iago was about to say more, but the King sighed heavily and wrapped his hand around the vizier's throat with speed similar to lightning, promptly shutting up the greasy-haired magician and lifting him off his feet with casual ease. He did so before Corrin could react: That's how fast it happened.

"Any monkey could see why I would give him the possibility to save both, but I guess that such thinking is beyond even you." He waged the tall man around, as if holding a doll. A doll that was glowing blue and desperately trying not to have its eyes pop out of their sockets. "In the future, Iago, I want you to think carefully before making any proposal, is that alright with you?" He stared at his vizier and remembered that the man couldn't quite speak with a gauntleted hand around his throat, so he let go. "Is that alright with you?"

"O… of course, milord!"

"Good. Corrin." Garon glanced at his "son" and held his hand out. "Go. Choose who live." He said, and Corrin advanced, taking a good look at everyone. He winced at the numbers of people who had been gathered to die, which included even those who weren't in any condition to fight like the civilians or those who were wounded. The entire fort was silent, and only a few Nohrians were grinning, though they didn't dare to show it to Corrin. The youth wouldn't notice nor care though, since he had the bigger problems of having to decide who was going to live or die. He looked at the list and realized that Sakura and the others weren't in sight yet, prompting him to look around. And, in a way, that was Garon's plan. He'd need to overlook people, specifically skim them over just to search for those he loved. All these Hoshidans would see his gaze simply skipping them outright, focused as he was on making sure that his sister, her friends and Yukimura wouldn't die.

He felt guilt over what he had done to the man. He was close to Mikoto according to herself, and he had been courteous with Corrin from the start, on top of being a man who was rather laid back yet serious when the need arrived. He had trusted Corrin and even had Ganglari thrust upon him to seal away, and yet the youth's arrival led to the queen and the dead of score of people, and that was all before he ran away to Nohr to help its war effort. The youth wondered if he hadn't been sent to die, or if he knew that Corrin would be there and, blaming him for what he had done, decided to forego prudence to try to get his revenge. If that was the case, then he wouldn't appreciate the pity reserved upon him, but Corrin didn't want to kill him either. He was eventually the first to go when Corrin remembered his position and pointed. A bunch of Nohrians nodded and took him off his feet rather roughly, though the prince frowned. "Let no supplementary harm come to him." He warned, putting on as much authority as he could in his voice. As luck would have it, those particular soldiers had seen his rampage on Hans, prompting them to be more gentle with the tactician. Didn't prevent the mechanist from shooting a glare at Corrin.

"You… do not think that your pity makes us equal, Nohrian. Your trickery has resulted in the death of our queen and her people, and you've just ensured that her efforts will all go to waste! What a son you are!" At hearing his word, a soldier raised the pommel of his sword but Corrin gestured, and the soldier lowered it, after having intended to strike the man in the stomach. Yukimura further glared and was hauled away, though kept in Corrin's eyesight to prevent him from being beaten up while the prince was busy. Then, he noticed Sakura and pointed at her immediately.

"If you handle her with any manner of roughness, I'll remember it." He said, prompting the soldiers to carefully handle her. Sakura was pulled out of the mess, staying silent. Corrin then decided to point at Sakura's best friend, Hana. He had been informed that the two young women were close to one another, to the point where he remember that Hana had confronted him, early in his stay in Hoshido, to yell at him for having been kidnapped by Garon, something which had puzzled Corrin for a while.

Not that the decision mattered to him a lot. Corrin would never be callous enough to simply give up on someone else for insulting him like that. Thus, she too was picked off. "Lady Sakura!" She said, upon joining up with her, posting herself in front of the princess to try to prevent an attack upon her. When Subaki was also raised from the others, he approached her. This left Corrin with only one person left, and he winced at the realization of what he was going to do: Look at all these people and realize that he could only really save one.

None of the Hoshidans were begging though. Most, either out of bravery or spite, were holding their heads high, eyes closed and lips barely quivering. Corrin didn't want to spend too much time on it to get out of the torture, but yet he also didn't want to just skim over these people again. He pointed a finger at a Samurai, who was less composed than the others, and he was, too, taken away. Garon saw this, nodded and raised anheavy hand. "Kill every single last one of them, men!"

And the Nohrians obeyed, even Hans, who had been coy until now thanks to the beatdown done to him, was now leading the troops on the slaughter. It wasn't anything close to human. It wasn't a simple execution or even something done cleanly, no. Even with all that size, someone of Iago's caliber could've delivered them a swift death using his tome. And yet, yet the Nohrians were almost ravenously digging into the group of Hoshidans like one angry mass, exploiting the restrictions placed on the soldiers to eagerly solve their issues. What actually happened couldn't be described by words, but years and years of grudges were being finally put to use against those soldiers. While not all soldiers were displaying that bloodlust, and quite a few even seemed opposed to it, Corrin could only see those men and women brutally slaughter the prisoners. None of the defeated soldiers died an easy death either, though a few were defiant enough to yell defiantly as they were being cut down.

Corrin watched this happen and put his hands on his mouth, in utter horror. Had it been up to him, he would've swiftly moved to end it all, or Xander and the other siblings (bar Elise who had been escorted away) could've ended it all as well, but yet none of that was happening. They were staring, powerless to do anything lest they anger Garon. However, Corrin refused to believe that Xander could be so easily cowed into submission and moved towards the prince. "Xander! Stop them!" He said. The blond snapped himself out of his trance, nodded at Corrin and took about two steps before Garon's massive axe came into the way, held by the King himself.

"And where are you going, my proud son?"

"I'm stopping this, father. Yes, they are our enemy, but this is no excuse to so eagerly massacre them! We have to show the world that Nohr is better than this!"

"… Why so? Have you forgotten your history lessons, boy?" Xander tried to move past but Garon resisted. "Nohr has shown mercy in the past, and it has done little to help it. A country built on strength must use that strength to survive, least it lose sight of what made it and expose itself to betrayal. Our massacre is a warning to the world, written in the blood of those we have beaten." He wrote. "Should they raise against us once more, then… we will win."

"But will we do so by slaughtering everyone? Our country is not one that is built on blood. If we destroy everything on our way to the capital, then the other countries might see us as a threat and attempt to take us down while we are still recovering from the war." Xander exposed. "Please, we need to be trusted by the other nations. Or else, how will they trust us to lead Dreiz into prosperity after beating Hoshido?"

Corrin, tired of having to wait around, charged in but Garon moved swiftly to block him as well, briefly unleashing more than enough speed to intercept the charging dragon. A particularly harsh blow hit the youth in the stomach, stopping him dead-on in the midst of his charge and forcing him to harshly land to the ground. The Nohrian king stood above him, looking dispassionate, his fist held ever so slightly forward. In spite of how just casually he did the gesture, the young prince felt like a mountain had spontaneously dropped on him. All his considerable strength was busy preventing him from spilling his lunch at Garon's feet, and even looking up further was beyond his abilities.

"Corrin!" Said Azura, quickly picking him up. Garon left her do so, having never taken his eyes off Xander during the encounter.

"We won't need to rely on their trust." He said. "Nohr will become a mighty nation able to stand up to the world, and I've taken measures to prevent any betrayal." He said. "I will hand you a most splendid country, my son. No harm shall be done to it, and the blood seeped into his soil will produce plentiful crops." There was an odd glint in his eyes, as if he wasn't really looking at Xander. "But before that, I must do a father's duty and ensure that no harm will come for any of you. And if those soldiers are left alive, then they will come for you." He turned around and looked at the gory mess. "Had we been placed in the situation of those soldiers, do you think that they would've flinched? Would one of us be able to somehow make a speech to save our lives? No. Because as you can see, ethics go out of the way quickly when vengeance is concerned. Codes, rules, laws…" Garon clenched his fist. "Nothing but masks. Attempts at convincing ourselves that we aren't beasts. That humans have a capacity for order and empathy… Yet behold how easy it is for them to abandon it all." The hand he clenched swept at the mass, as if to demonstrate. "You likely talked to those men and women, emphasized with them, discovered their opinions and ideologies. You thought you knew them… But do you, now? Are those blood-thirsty savages really the same people you fought alongside with for months by now? How will you treat them in the future now that you saw their true selves?"

Xander grunted and stared at the slaughter, and so did Corrin, even as Azura tried to avert his eyes. He could see the people from the campfire, the same one he talked to before meeting Mozu, eagerly ripping apart the Hoshidans. The contrast was actually pretty upsetting. But Xander found the strength to keep his cool and turned towards his father. "… Do you think that this is true for all humans? That each and every one of us is some beast waiting to emerge, who care not for society?"

"Yes." Said Garon. "It doesn't matter if you try to vouch for peace, humanity's true nature is found in the wars it so eagerly partake in. When it come down to it, they are naught but wrathful beings… Do you really wish to impose peace upon them? Why do you intend to stop what is inherent to people? If you want for Nohr to stand the test of time, you must agree that you will need to be brutal and aware of the darker truths of those who surround us, lest you make my mistake and end up betrayed by the people who were supposed to help you all along."

"I understand, and I agree that a certain degree of brutality is required to rule, but not all humans are bad, father." Said Xander. "People strive, they strug-"

"I am not inviting a debate, Xander, spare me whatever inspiring speeches you've cooked up." Garon dismissed his hand. "Besides, I have the evidence that I need. Is it not enough?" He pointed at the gorey mess that was happening behind him. "Do you still think, somehow, that humans are good? Deep down, it is easy for them to abandon their little principles to go to war. What do you think of that?"

"I think that it is obvious that you've been truly hurt by this world." Xander closed his eyes. "I knew you were, but I never imagined that what happened would… warp you that much." Garon seemed to grow angered at that, but Xander continued. "But if there is anything that I'm going to do once I assume the crown, father, it's to prove you wrong. People can be good, and while I know-"

"Haven't you heard what I said? Regardless, we've wasted too much time here. Head for Suzanoh. We'll reunite near the capital. Dimissed." With that, Garon was off, and Xander turned towards Corrin.

Corrin couldn't help but slightly… agree? Yes, he was of the mindset that people could be good, but was Garon more correct than he thought? The Hoshidans, be it in Nestra or Mokushu, struck civilians with great savagery but he was more than familiar with Nohr's brand of ruthlessness and he had heard of those tales of Mokushu conquering and, apparently, wiping out other people just for more power, not to mention the tales he heard, of Qliphoth and its end. And somewhere in Corrin's mind, that eternal question popped up again: Were humans really good? Was Garon right about people hiding their true intentions and being willing to abandon civilization for the sake of revenge? The King's logic was very much driven by the tragedies he had suffered, and it hardly justified his own atrocities. Had he been of a saner mind, Corrin could've said that the king was all too eager to exploit the bloodlust that he condemned for the sake of his own revenge, but alas, the war had gotten to him once again.

By that point, his will was the only thing keeping him moving, like a pole that he desperately held unto while a fierce storm was raging on. Reach the capital, end the war, and rest. But then, if he reached it, could he move away? Garon obviously had greater plans and was probably not going to go to his villa at Macarath. Was he really going to need to suffer through more war and desolation after the Hoshidan conflict? It was all so despairing to him. Were it not for Beruka, Gunter, Kaze and the siblings… Perhaps he would've left there, or perhaps he would've exploited Garon's distraction to try to end his life.

In fact, he considered it. A quick attack on him. A stab to the neck first, and then a decapitation just to be sure. Corrin was glaring daggers at his king, and moved his hand to the hilt of the sword. Things had to end right here, right now!

Then, he felt a weak hand on his sword, and he moved his head in time to notice Xander, slowly shaking his head. Corrin wanted to argue, but he wasn't in a state where he could do so effectively, and with Xander looming over him, killing Garon was impossible. The young man just dropped his arms to the ground and knelt, ignoring the words of consolation thrown his way.

…

"You really shouldn't be doing all those moves with your condition, ya know? Don't you still have a bit of poison?"

"I can handle it."

Selena scoffed a little but accepted Beruka's challenge, using her wooden sword to skillfully deflect Beruka's own axe, and then attempting to regain the advantage with a few rapid swings, earning herself some cheers of encouragement from the spectators of the fight when she nabbed Beruka in the shoulder, hitting her squarely on the piece of armor with a little target on it.

Beruka backed off and blinked a few times. "… That's 9-8, in your favor." Grumbled the assassin. Selena made a little bow. "But I will settle the score." And they were off again. This time, the red-head did not rely on her speed, seemingly choosing to fight on Beruka's grounds with her strength. A rather costly decision to make, owing to the assassin's strength, and after being pushed back by three barely-guarded blows, the retainer decided to switch back to her usual style, though her speed was not quite up to par with the fantastic swiftness that had gotten the better of the assassin.

The two wooden weapons met time and time again, but Beruka frowned. The poison made her see afterimages at times, caused her pain whenever she swung her arms a bit too strongly, made her just a bit more tired after every narrow dodge or block. She would be easy pray for any skilled samurai in this state, and someone like Selena had no business getting hit about eight times by her, especially with her speed. Said speed saw little use here too. Selena was either holding back on her, or getting winded. Either way, Beruka didn't appreciate, something which she made sure to show by ducking beneath Selena's stab and flipping her over with a throw, causing the young redhead to end up thrown to the ground! Selena gasped upon contact but before she could make an effort to strike back, Beruka hit her in the chest with her axe, putting an ending to the fight of a sort rather swiftly. Selena blinked in confusion and got up, turning her head to stare at Beruka with a rather annoyed look on her face.

"Hey, why'd you do that? I was going easy on ya, ya know!"

"Precisely." Said Beruka. "I do not want your pity or for you to hold back." With this concise explanation, Beruka raised her axe and held a stance, preparing to battle her foe once more. Selena tilted her head in confusion but then sighed and got up. "Here here, I'm playing nice and you're just yelling at me." She criticized. "Calm down, girl. I'm going to fight you with full speed this time around, alright? Just don't get upset if your pride take a blow." She advised.

The two women took a stance, while under the watchful gaze of their respective colleagues… but before the final round could even begin, the door of the little fence that surrounded the circular area opened, and Elise walked into the scene, wagging her finger. "Beruka!" She said. "No fighting or training while you're recovering! It could worsen the poison!" The little blonde walked up to the heavily armored assassin and stood right in front of her. "And that could get the poison to start all over again, so please don't go and exhaust yourself like that!"

Had the order came from anyone else, Beruka would've continued the fight, but Elise was the princess, and she was the one in charge of her successful recovery. Besides, she wasn't wrong. Yukimura sure coated his blades in the most deadly toxins known in the continent, and even with healing and her resistance to toxins, it had taken days for her to start feeling better. "Besides, if you want to train, you'll be all good in one day! So don't go overboard Beruka, and just know that you only gotta wait for one more day before you can start to train like that!"

"Heh." Selena sheathed her blade. "You can be pretty confrontational when ya want to, princess Elise!"

"Yeah, and about you!" Elise pointed at Selena. "Don't let her run off to fight, alright? It's important that she recover! So don't go around and train, because it only worsen things! Alright?" The redhead stared at the little blonde in utter surprise, not having expected to receive the brunt of the assault too. Light chuckling played in the background, as the soldiers, initially witnesses of a pretty intense training, were now witnesses of a rather surprising reprimand from the softest princess that Nohr had even seen ever since its settlers appeared in the country.

"Alright." Said Beruka, bowing. "I apologize for my mistake." Selena stared at her and did the same. Once satisfied, Elise winked.

"Alright! You could always rest up somewhere! Or go help with the weapons! Regardless, your current contract: Rest! Hehe, that's what Camilla told me to say." With that, she was off, and Beruka sheathed her weapon, grunting in disapproval. The crowd, understanding there wouldn't be any entertainment, scattered, leaving the two women alone. Selena folded her arms and decided to lean on the fence, folding her arms while doing so.

"Heh… I guess we'll never know what would have happened now."

"You wouldn't have won." Said Beruka, plainly. Selena cocked her head. "You're fast, but overconfident."

"Well, I can afford to be." Selena jammed a thumb in her direction. "I mean, haven't ya heard of how I easily bested a bunch of elite Hoshidans and then the princess? I mean, Corrin cleared a bunch of them out first, but I'm the reason why she stopped pining us down with arrows! And I didn't get hit by any of-" When Beruka raised a finger at her direction, pointing at a bandage on her nose, Selena frowned. "Hey, cut that out! I got this wound because of a surprise attack. Hrm, yeah. It's a battle wound, sort of like your former eyepatch."

Beruka contemplated her with both eyes. Her eyesight had been fully restored by now, so she had decided to give the eyepatch away. There was only a little scar near it, though one needed to be close to see it. Close enough that she was probably in the middle of killing them, or having her personal space breached at any rate. "Hrm. They're hardly comparable."

"Yeah yeah well… Hey, you know, how about you go ask Lord Corrin about it? He saw how I got the scar."

"But none of the other soldiers did?"

"Well, would ya trust them? They'd just say that I hit myself with my own fist or something! Come on, you can trust him! Besides, I feel like he may need to see someone. He's been up there for a little while ya know?" She assured, before pointing upwards at Corrin's residence. "I don't think that he even take visitors now. Well, he allows Azura or his siblings to come in but this is a bit troubling, don't you think?"

"I lack the skills to support…" She pondered. It had been a while since she saw him, and she had heard of his state. Up until now, she had been too busy recovering to really come for him but now that she was mostly back on her feet, perhaps she could try to see him? She may have been out cold during Garon's arrival, but the descriptions of what had happened had told her more than enough. "… Nevermind. I will go speak to Lord Corrin, and I'll ask him about your story when he feels better."

Selena smiled bizarrely, as if planning something. "Be sure to greet him on my behalf!" Beruka nodded to that, turned around and began to head for Corrin's house. Up until now, few had apparently seen the prince after Jinya, and only the royals could get in. That, coupled with her illness, forced her to take a bit of a pause with her interactions with him. This had distressed her more than she wished to admit: Corrin had seen some rather horrible things apparently, and while Beruka was not a soft person, she knew just how much of an effect this kind of behavior would have on him.

As she headed for the tree, she noticed that Shura was sitting close to the ladder, his legs crossed and his arms folded. Whenever someone got too close to it, he glanced at them and most were convinced to step away, though some would mutter something regarding his original country. Shura didn't seem to mind it, certainly thanks to his training, or because he knew better than to let his emotions command him. For that alone, Beruka could respect him somewhat. As she arrived though, she could only help that he would not try to stop her. "Hello, Shura."

"Hey." He opened up only one eye. "Guess you're feeling better, huh? If you feel sick while climbing, please, don't throw up on me."

"I will not." Beruka ignored his small frown and began to climb. It took her a few seconds to climb the ladder, when she could've easily been in the building in less time before the poisoning. The assassin frowned at this, but did not stop, opening the door and not even reacting in surprise when Lilith arrived to greet her. The dragon maid (she still couldn't get used to that combination of words) looked a bit more worried this time, but stopped upon noticing who she was speaking to.

"Beruka? Oh… Well, I hope that you'll be able to talk to him." Sighed the maid. Beruka wondered just how bad the situation was for this sort of odd despair to emanate in the building: While there were some wounded soldiers being treated, the warm ambiance of the building was completely gone, and she could hear a pin drop because of the silence in the background. It was somewhat… disturbing for the assassin, who didn't contemplate on her odd position as the only person apparently capable of helping Corrin.

Upon climbing the stairs, Beruka nodded to Lilith quietly and knocked unto the door. "Yeah?" Corrin's voice was the same as ever, but much more… empty. Hardly any sadness or anger in his voice, just some sort of exhaustion.

"It's me, Beruka. May I come in?" She heard a now familiar gasp and the door promptly unlocked, opening up to show a seemingly reassured prince. He actually didn't look much different from usual, but much like his voice, his usually straight posture was now slouched, and his eyes were baggy and tired-looking. He did seem to be a little better now.

"Beruka! Of course, do come in!" He said, opening the door and closing it when she entered.

When Beruka stepped in, she thought that the room would look messier than a town that had been visited by Hans, but it was actually very tidy. The big red bed near a corner was easily noticed, but she could also locate some shelves right behind it, full of books of various topics (She could read something that treated about a radiant dawn, and another focused on the myth of a blazing sword). Next to the shelves, there was a circular table, though nothing stood on it yet. Looking down, a luscious red carpet had been placed, though it didn't quite stretch to the rest of the room, revealing that the floor was wooden.

A piano had been placed at a corner of the room, its jet-black appearance contrasting with the paleness of the walls. Up above, a chandelier was lazily swinging above, sometimes rocked a little more by an errant wind from one of the windows on the roof. Some chairs were placed near the piano, perhaps in case he'd need to greet someone. Corrin took two and placed them near the table, before almost collapsing on his own. "I hope you don't mind the room."

"It's fine." It was perfectly up to her taste. A bit sterile, perhaps, but this only endeared it further to her. "… I apologize, I haven't been able to visit you for a while."

"It's not a problem. You had to recover. If anything, it's my fault." He put one hand on his chest. "I was too busy sleeping and reading here to visit you."

"It wouldn't have been much of a conversation. Keeping my eyes open was a struggle at first." Corrin nodded to her, then sat still, and then got up before grabbing a bottle of water in a drawer. He then grabbed two glasses, filled them and handed them over.

"Sorry! I didn't, erm, forgot to…" He stopped when Beruka put her hand on his arm, and his tension dropped a little. "I'm a bit of a mess."

Had she been of a more malicious mind, she could've said "you always are", but the assassin nodded. "It's fine." She drank a little. "You… became distant, apparently. And I was sent to investigate on that."

"Is that so? Y-yeah, well, I became a bit of a recluse yeah, it's…" He scratched the back of his head. "A long story, but ever since what I saw at the fort, I… I just don't feel like staring at people." Beruka raised a curious glance in his direction. "The way they all went along with Garon's orders but also what happened over the war… Hans and his men, Hohsido attacking civilians. I… You know I…" He put his hands on his head and briefly closed his eyes. "I feel overwhelmed sometimes, I want to help the world but the more I think about it, the more it feels so hostile. People killing each other for revenge is one thing but…"

"Hm…" Beruka heard of the Jinya massacre. Garon had spun it into a story where Corrin picked the survivors and personally offered the massacre. Did he know that? She figured it wasn't worth bringing up either way. "Yes, people will resort to barbaric tactics if backed into a corner or angered enough." She admitted. "I've witnessed this in the slums, and so did you now."

"… Yeah, I guess." He bit his lips. "Say, Beruka, how do you deal with that? Living in such a hostile world? I mean, I know that there are good people and they love me but…"

The assassin tilted her head. "You're asking me to help you see the better part of the world?" A smirk of amusement actually appeared on her face, and he seemed a bit stunned by it before she spoke further. "You did good. To deal with the darkness of the world, I simply focus on what matters. The mission, my weapons…" She looked to the side. "Some people, eventually." Then her eyes refocused on Corrin. "You should do the same. Do not ignore the wider world, because it will often come calling, but focus on what matters to you, and only deal with the darker side of the world when it comes to you."

He focused a little on it and folded his arms. "So… after the war, I should just, erm… I don't know, maybe step back and live a normal life?"

"Depends on how you define it." She leaned forward in interest.

"I don't know, just living in a house, maybe in the coun… definitely in the countryside, maybe tending to plants. Maybe I'd keep tabs with my friends and family too." He said. "But if I just run away and shun my duties…"

"Have those duties brought any manner of joy to you?" She asked.

"… No." Admitted the youth, lowering his head.

"Then you could always try to live a regular life for a year, and temporarily forfeit your royal title." She contemplated how easy it'd be to do that. "Your siblings love you, and they would probably not refuse if you asked for some peace and quiet."

"Well, I'd still have to deal with the fallout? It'd be a little selfish."

"But do you want to help with that? You're forcing yourself to do it. If you do so, then you might end up gathering resent." Said Beruka. "Yes, it if selfish, but one does not have to always be virtuous. You are authorized to step back and think over it a little. I am not saying to flat-out deny your title, but you could always take a breather. You will need it."

He nodded slowly, and she could swear that color returned to his face. "I'll do it. It feels a bit wrong but… But yeah, maybe that's what I need to do. Rest a little, and take the time to cool of before I start to work on it." He smiled. "Thanks, Beruka, I… I mean, I'm still going to need some time to deal with all that, all I've seen but…"

"I could always help with that." Beruka felt an odd feeling rush to her chest when she said that, and Corrin stared at her, tugging on her collar and quickly ruffling his hair. She simply stared down before looking up at him. "Lord Corrin, I-"

Then, she felt a light shock on her neck. Nothing too serious: The assassin merely raised her eyebrow and then put her hand on the back of her neck, stopping herself short. Upon stumbling on something with her hand, she pulled it out of her neck, and brought the small object to her attention. Her eyes briefly glanced a small black dart, before the colors exploded outright, overwhelming her vision with a hundred different flashes of light. Her legs quivered and she dropped off her chair and into the ground as numbness took over, preventing her from raising even a single finger to stop her fall.

Luckily, Corrin reacted quickly and caught her, using his arms to give her a soft landing. "Beruka?!" He contemplated his surroundings and noticed the dart on the ground. "Hang on!" He didn't listen to whatever she wanted to announce, instead raising his head to look for Lilith. In his panic, it took him a little more than a second to realize that the door to his room was slightly open.

Then, something sharp penetrated through both armor and flesh, and a burning sensation filled his every vein, as if lava instead of blood poured through his body. With a sudden cry of pain, Corrin fell forward, almost hyperventilating. This made it only too easy for his aggressor to rip the blade out of his back and then kick him aside, causing him and Beruka to drop to the ground. The pain was paralyzing, even if the knife didn't hit the spin. He could only barely begin to look, his vision made blurry by the attack.

But even with that handicap, he could clearly see his attacker.

Standing over him, with a small bloody wyrmslayer knife held in hand, Kaze stood, equipped with his usual peaceful smile. "Hello, Lord Corrin." He spoke, voice as soft as usual. "I come on behalf of Hoshido."

…

**A/N: **The twist! Kaze's a traitor! Haha, I think everybody saw it coming though!

Shorter chapter this time around, but I hope you'll enjoy it! Beruka's finally back! How will she and Corrin fend off Kaze, when it looks like things are already dim? Will Lilith or Shura strike to the rescue? Or will random generic Nohrian prove to be the fiendish ninja's undoing?

I might publish the follow up a bit later, since I'm working on a draft for another fic. Fittingly, it also involves ninjas. I'm not dropping this series of course, but it might come later than usual!

I hope you'll enjoy the chapter! Leave a review!

See ya around!


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